Crossing Worlds
by Bronygirl6729
Summary: What if one day, you were magically transported to the kingdom of Equestria to study friendship? You can meet all of the characters all while learning about the magic of friendship and defending Equestria side by side with the Mane 6. R&R
1. Chapter 1

Crossing Worlds

By Bronygirl6729

What if one day, you were magically transported to the kingdom of Equestria to study friendship? You can meet all of the characters all while learning about the magic of friendship and defending Equestria side by side with the Mane 6. R&R

Chapter One: Transformation

 _This is my first fanfic and I hope everyone likes it. This is a story from your point of view, so everywhere that it says [Y/N], just put your name in. The story takes place about a week after Equestria Girls, and, sorry guys, is written for girls. Although it may not seem like it at first, this is a fanfic about MLP:FiM, it just starts out in the real world. Also, I do not own MLP or any of the characters. Originally, I wrote this on , but I decided to put it on this website too. All right, you guys ready? Well, ready or not, here it is!_

Your POV

Just another boring day living the suburban dream. You check the clock while lying in bed. It reads 3:15. You sigh, twirling your [H/C] hair in your fingers as you stare at the ceiling. You live with your mom in a small house in an everyday neighborhood where nothing interesting ever seemed to happen. You live on broken promises of better times ahead, once you finished high school. But sometimes it seemed like promises were not enough.

"[Y/N], I'm home!" You sit up on your bed when you hear your mom's familiar voice.

You walk out of your room and towards the foyer to meet her as she enters. Her light brown hair seems a bit messy, but her blue eyes still shine with sweetness.

"Hello, [Y/N]. How was your last day of school today?"

"It was fine." You watch as your mother put her purse down and picks up her cell phone to call somebody. She was a businesswoman for a major corporation, so you didn't mind that she didn't have much time to talk.

As you walked in the kitchen, you pick up a small, shiny red apple and take it to the living room to eat, all while reviewing what your history teacher had taught you that day. "Magic was an important factor in the Middle Ages," he had instructed. "Many kings and queens had their own servants to perform feats of magic for them. It was a tradition and an important part of their history."

"Magic," you mumble. "Who cares about magic?"

After finishing your apple, you go back into your room and pick up your yearbook, which had been resting on your dresser, and flip to the signatures from everyone. One read, I will miss your kindness and laughter. Make sure to have a great summer! After looking at a few more, you close the book as your mom walks in with a new business suit on.

"All right, [Y/N], be honest with me…does this look ok?" She turns around a few times while you check out the outfit.

"Well, it's alright, but it would look a lot better with some hoop earrings." Your mom smiles at this response, happy with her suit now that you have approved it. As she walks out the door, though, her smile falters and she freezes and lets out a soft moan of pain, rubbing her back in dismay.

"You ok, mom?" You ask, concerned.

"I'm alright, but my darn back is killing me."

After thinking for a moment, you say, "Well, you don't worry, because I can set the table and do the dishes tonight. Also, you should probably see a chiropractor about that back soon."

Your mom smiles warmly and hugs you. "Thank you, [Y/N]. You're always so generous, especially when I'm in pain like this."

"No problem, mom."

After setting the table, you and your mom had some leftover Chinese food from last night. As you were eating, she began getting a lot of calls, and then she made one to her sister. Once her calls subsided, she turned to look at you. "Well, [Y/N], it looks like I'll have to be in Minnesota for a huge business meeting and convention for more than half of the summer. So, I called your Aunt Becky, and she said you could come stay with her in the city while I'm away."

You want to say something, and you were so disappointed about spending the summer away from your mom, but you knew she was doing her best to support both of you, so you kept silent.

"I know it's hard, but please, remember to always call or text me every day. And listen to your Aunt Becky."

You sigh, finally looking up to meet your mother's eyes. "My first loyalty is to my family. Of course I will."

"Good. Well, I'm headed off to bed. Goodnight, sweetie." She gives you a quick hug and then heads to her room.

"This is going to be a long summer," you whisper as you gather up all of the dishes to wash.

"Goodbye, I'll take good care of [Y/N], don't you worry!" Aunt Becky yells out to your mom as she drives away.

"Bye mom," you say quietly, more to yourself than her.

As soon as your mother is gone, Aunt Becky turns to you. "Now then, I guess I should welcome you to my apartment, [Y/N]. You'll be staying here for the next two months, so listen to what I'm telling you now. We have a high school over here called Equestria, so maybe you can meet some of the teenagers that go there, since they'll be on summer vacation too. Oh, and here's your room."

You and Aunt Becky walk in a small, compact room with a single bed and dresser. There was a small window overlooking the streets of the city to the left of your bed, and a green plant on the right side.

"Now, I know it isn't very big, but you'll just have to make do. After all, it's only two months." Aunt Becky smiles and looks at you for a response.

"It's…nice, and I'll be fine for now, I guess."

"All right, good. Your Uncle Henry is usually out working, but he'll be home at night in time for dinner." Looking out the window, Aunt Becky puts on a thoughtful face. You go up to see what she's looking at and see a big building with a sign in front of it that reads Equestria High School. "Why don't you go see if anyone is hanging out in front of Equestria? Maybe some of the students haven't left yet."

Deciding to just do as you're told, you nod, grab a water bottle, and walk out of your small room and out the front door of their apartment. After walking down four flights of stairs, you exit through the lobby and find yourself outside. As you make your way over to the park, you see a large statue nearby. Feeling thirsty, you walk towards the statue, open your water bottle, and begin to drink from it. But, as you lean against the statue, it engulfs you, and you fall through to the unknown.

Third Person POV

"Now, I'm sure you're all wondering why I brought you girls here after Twilight's previous encounter with the human world," Princess Celestia says to the six ponies in front of her.

"Yeah, I thought we already defeated Sunset Shimmer! Is she acting up again?" Rainbow Dash asks warily.

Celestia laughs at the rainbow pony's assertiveness, then responds, "No, she is doing quite well in her friendship lessons. But no, you are all here for a different reason."

"A party?" Pinkie Pie guesses.

"Pinkie, do y'all really think that the Princess would invite us here to throw a party in the human world?" Applejack asks Pinkie, and Pinkie slumps down in sadness.

Ignoring the rambunctious pink pony, Celestia turns to Twilight. "Princess Twilight, I must inform you of some rather interesting news. Many years ago, a young filly was born who was said to be a wielder of the Gold Crown, an artifact not unlike your Elements of Harmony. In fact, the Gold Crown is able to actually work with the Elements if especially great power is needed. However, many wanted her dead, and considering that she was a newborn and her parents were mere unicorns unable to protect themselves from such huge threats, she needed to find somewhere safe until she was old enough and strong enough to protect herself from these threats." After a short pause, Celestia continues. "So her parents came to Luna and I, begging for us to send her somewhere safe where nopony would find her. So I sent her to the human world, and she has been raised there as a human ever since. However, now she is about your age and able to defend herself, so I am bringing her back so that she may wield the Gold Crown and be back where she belongs."

A surprised silence holds the room as Celestia finishes her speech. A few of the friends look at each other in awe, but no words are said.

"I have seen when she will be by the portal and when she is near, it will open, since now Luna and I can better control it. Yes, she-"

Princess Celestia is interrupted by screaming and a bright flash of light as a pony stumbles out from the mirror.

Your POV

Screaming, you tumble through a swirling vortex, unaware of whether you are upside down or rightside up. Finally, you collide with a hard, cold floor and lay there in confusion and dizziness. As your vision clears, you find yourself in a room with colorful people looking over you where you lay. _Colorful people…? Wait. Not people, ponies!_ As a pink one pokes your nose, you yell and jump up onto two legs, only to fall down again.

"Pinkie Pie, whatever did you do that for? Give the filly some space," a white one with a purple mane says.

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if she was ok!" the pink one answers, bouncing up and down.

You begin hyperventilating. _Ponies are talking. Ponies are talking. Ponies are talking._ Suddenly, you feel a gentle hoof on your back, and you look behind you to see a pure white mare with a long, flowing mane.

"Hello," she says calmly. "Don't worry, we won't hurt you."

You gulp nervously and try to stand on two legs again, but fall. _Ugh, what is wrong with me?_ You look down at your body to see that you have no legs, but the body of a pony. You gaze wildly at your [B/C] body, complete with hooves and all. Beginning to hyperventilate again, you grab for your hair, to instead find a [H/C] mane and a tail of the same color. Also, as you felt your head, you found you had a horn. Then, suddenly, something catches your eye. On your flank is a tattoo-looking thing of a golden crown.

The large white mare speaks again. "Calm down, everything's going to be alright. You are a pony, and so you probably shouldn't stand on two legs." She chuckles.

Shakily, you stand up on all four legs, and then take a few cautious steps.

"That's it, you've got it." The sound of a new voice whips your head around, and you turn around to see seven ponies staring at you: an orange one, a yellow one, a blue one, a purple one, a pink one, and two white ones. The purple one was the one who had spoken.

The large white mare approaches you slowly and calmly, and then bends down her head down to speak to you. "What is your name, young one?"

"…[Y/N]. My name is [Y/N]."

"Well, [Y/N], I have brought you here because you may have taken a human form, but you were born here, many years ago, as a pony."

You look up at her frantically. "But then why was I in the human world? Who are my pony parents? Why-" You stop when she holds up a hoof to silence you.

"There will be time to explain later. For now, let me introduce myself. I am Princess Celestia, ruler of this kingdom of Equestria. I cause the sun to rise and set, among other things. This is my sister, Princess Luna, the Princess of the Night. She controls the moon, among other things." It is then that you notice a dark shape in a corner of the room that you had not noticed before. The shape moves, and then comes into the light. You now see that she is a pony with wings and a horn, like Celestia.

"Charmed, I'm sure." She puts out a hoof, and you stare at it questioningly. "Oh, forget it." She walks back to her corner.

"And these ponies are the fillies that wield the Elements of Harmony, jewels that keep the balance of harmony in Equestria. Here, I'll let them introduce themselves." Celestia steps back to reveal six smiling ponies. The first one to step forward is another pony with wings and a horn, the purple one from before. You notice that she is notably smaller than the other two.

"Hi, [Y/N], I'm Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic. Pleased to meet you."

Next, a blue one with a rainbow mane and tail flies forward. "What's up? I'm Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, famous for my speed and awesomeness across Equestria." You smile and hoof-bump her.

A pretty yellow pegasus with a long pink mane peeks out, and then gracefully approaches you. "Hi, I'm Fluttershy, um, Element of Kindness," she whispers, not looking you in the eye and then quickly stepping back.

An orange pony with a southern accent and cowboy hate plods forward and shakes your hoof roughly. "Howdy, I'm Applejack. I'm pleased to meet ya, [Y/N]. I'm the Element of Honesty, and honestly, I think we'll have some great times together."

Elegantly, a white unicorn steps forward, flipping her gorgeous purple mane as she says, "Why hello, I am Rarity, Element of Generosity. Hmm…you know, I believe that you would look very nice in royal blue. If you ever need any dresses, be sure to stop by my shop."

"My turn, my turn, MY TURN!" An overjoyed pink pony hops forward, nearly ready to burst with excitement. "I'm Pinkie Pie, and we're going to be such great friends! Oh, oh, I know! I'll throw you a pony party, since now, you're a pony! Oh, and I'm the Element of Laughter! Ha ha ha!"

"Now, I know this is a lot to take in, but you will have to grow accustomed to being a pony. I want you to go live with Twilight in Ponyville. Learn about friendship and magic with her, and write me letters of what you learn like the other six do. I will be looking forward to hearing from you."

"Princess, does this mean she will be living in my tree?"

"Yes, Twilight, it will be your responsibility as a princess to welcome [Y/N] back to Equestria and teach her of our history and the magic of friendship."

Twilight nods solemnly, and then turns to you. "Come on [Y/N], let's get you to Ponyville."

"You'll be staying here in my tree during your stay in Ponyville until we can find you a permanent home." Twilight trots in the tree and quickly flips open a book entitled Magic for Beginners. "Oh, here it is!" You walk over to Twilight and look at her book. "This is the book I used when I was first studying magic. I don't need it anymore, and you don't know anything about magic yet, so I want you to have it."

"Wow..." you say. "I don't know what to say, but thank you." You begin to flip through the pages, skimming through each spell until one catches your eye. "Hmm, levitation...is that an easy one?"

"Yes, and it's a practical one that you can use on a daily basis." Twilight looks around and then runs and grabs a quill, then drops it on the table. "Here, try to levitate this quill. Ok, now really focus your entire mind on this quill. Your horn controls the magic, so aim it at the quill."

You set your mind completely on the quill, taking a deep breath as you feel power coursing through your horn. A pink aura suddenly surrounds the quill and it begins to slightly lift from the table.

"Yes, yes, that's it!" Twilight whispers as you continue to lift the quill.

All of a sudden, the quill is off the ground and in your horn's magical grasp. You laugh with joy and move the quill around a bit, feeling as though you were doing what you were meant to do.

"Nice work, [Y/N]! You've already figured out the basics of levitating. You sure do have strong magic within you, despite the fact that's it's never been used for all these years." You smile at her, finally putting the quill down on the table and breathing a sigh of relief. "And now, it's time for you to learn about the magic of friendship!"

"What?" You ask, as if she were talking about something stupid.

"Yes, you heard me, the magic of friendship. I want you to go into Ponyville and meet lots of ponies, you know, to become friends with. Also, you should probably visit the other five girls that were there to meet you when you entered Equestria. They're really nice, and I know we can all become the best of friends."

"Come on, Twilight. The magic of friendship?" You raise an eyebrow at her. "Isn't that kind of cheesy? Does that magic even exist?"

"No, it's not cheesy, and yes, it does exist, and we've used it many times to defend Equestria. This is exactly why you have to learn about friendship. You don't understand it yet, but it could prove to be your greatest asset in an emergency. I didn't understand friendship when I moved to Equestria either, but I learned its importance with the help of my new friends. Now, you must do the same."

With a sigh, you reply, "Fine, I'll go make some friends."

 _YAAAY! Sorry, I just had to get that out of my system. Anyways, I hope you guys like it, and I hope to be writing more chapters in the future. Reviews are appreciated, as are suggestions for future chapters. Thank you for reading, until next time, this is Bronygirl6729._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Making Friends and Planning Parties

 _I'm so excited about this story, and I can't wait to see how it ends! Now, I know some people didn't want you to be a unicorn, but there is a reason for that, and it will all make sense in the end, trust me. I also wanted to give a shout-out to seniorcopycat. Thank you for your nice reviews and your human/MLP stories to inspire me! Well, that just about covers it, so read away!_

You trot down one of Ponyville's many dirt roads. It was almost nice, the fact that there were no cars, no pollution, even if it did make traveling a bit harder. All right, who can I go see? You look up at the sun to see that it is late afternoon, so everyone should be done with lunch and relaxing at this time. As you walked down these unfamiliar roads, you eventually come to what you guess is Fluttershy's cottage on the edge of a dark, scary-looking forest. As you approach, you see Fluttershy's yellow head pop up from her garden where she is tending to her flowers.

"Hi, Fluttershy," you say coolly. "What's new?" You bend over to look at her garden, which is filled with rows of pink petunias and blooming sunflowers.

"Oh, um, hello, [Y/N]," she says, crouched down and not looking you in the eye.

Raising an eyebrow, you say, "You know, I'm not going to hurt you. I just wanted to hang out."

Fluttershy, still crouching, finally looks up at you with her big blue-green eyes. "I-"

She is cut off by a creature slithering out of her cottage door unlike any creature you've ever seen. He had the head of a pony, while his body looked to be a mismatched jumble of appendages. You shiver at his sight and take a step back.

"Fluttershy, is this pony bothering you?" He asks her in a protective way, eyeing you suspiciously.

"Oh, no, Discord, [Y/N] is a friend." Fluttershy looks up at the creature without a hint of fear.

Perhaps she's braver than I thought.

"Are you sure? She doesn't look like your friend to me, the way you were afraid of her very presence." He crosses his arms, his eyes darting between you and the pegasus.

"Yes, Discord, I'm very sure. Actually, [Y/N] here just came to Equestria. She used to live in the human world. All of our friends are just trying to help her get settled in to her new home, not to mention her new body."

After hearing his friend's approval of you, the creature's face lightens up. "Well, then that changes everything." Turning to you, he continues, "Then that would make you and I both different. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Discord, spirit of chaos! In case you were wondering, I am a draconequus. Pleased to meet you." He holds out his hand, and you go to shake. As your hoof makes contact with his hand, a zap of electricity courses through your body, and you scream, pulling away quickly. After inspecting yourself to make sure you are alright, you look down to find a draconequus rolling with laughter at your hooves. "You...you should've seen the look on your face! Priceless!"

Fluttershy, however, looks down at him disapprovingly. "Discord! That is no way to treat a guest, especially considering the fact that she's my friend."

Discord finally stops laughing and looks up at Fluttershy, a huge smile still on his face. "Aw, come on, Fluttershy, she knows I was just playing with her." He grabs you and pulls you into a noogie. "Isn't that right, [Y/N]?"

After Discord finally puts you down, you look up at Fluttershy, fixing your now messy [H/C] mane. "We're friends?"

Fluttershy looks perplexed. "Well, of course we are, silly. I mean, I know I'm shy, but I'd still like to get to know you. You know...hang out, like you said."

"Wow..." You consider this for a moment. "I don't think anyone has ever wanted to be my friend so quickly. It's...nice."

You and Fluttershy smile at each other, but Discord doesn't seem to enjoy it as much. "Uh, gag. Fluttershy, my dear, must you always be so sappy? Perhaps I should make some chocolate milk rain just about now, you, know, to make the situation a little more chaotic."

Poking him in the ribs, Fluttershy warns playfully, "You better not, mister."

Smiling at this, Discord says, "Oh yeah? Watch me."

Before he could even snap his fingers, a pink shape appears behind him. "Chocolate milk rain?! You had better add dollops and dollops of whipped cream this time!"

The draconequus lets out a yell, falls to the ground, and turns around to be face-to-face with Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie Pie...you startled me." He breaths a sigh of relief.

You smirk at him. "Admit it. She scared you."

Discord blushes at the fact that he has been outwitted at his own game, then meekly says, "Did not."

"Sure, Discord. Sure." You smile, since he is giving you the response you want.

"Oh, hey, [Y/N], I never got to really throw you that pony party, so how about we go have it at Sugar Cube Corner?" Pinkie Pie interrupts.

"Right now?" You ask.

"Yes, right now, right now, right now! Let's go!" Pinkie grabs you and practically drags you off to Sugar Cube Corner, snd you barely have a chance to yell out a goodbye to Discord and Fluttershy.

"Goodbye, [Y/N]!" Fluttershy says.

"I'm looking forward to creating more chaos with you later!" Discord yells.

Smiling at them, you stand up and follow Pinkie to Sugar Cube Corner.

"Well, here we are!" Pinkie Pie says, pointing up to a building that looks like a huge candy house. "Sugar Cube Corner!"

"So, what is this place?" You ask, looking the building up and down.

"Well, I work here, it's a bakery! It has cakes and cupcakes and cookies and pastries and-"

"Ok, I get it, I get it," you laugh.

"We can have your party here, but not in the actual bakery."

"What? Where else in here could we have it?" You ask, confused.

Pinkie Pie giggles. "Well, we can have it in my room, silly! You go invite everyone and I'll go to upstairs and get the room all decorationful with my party cannon!" She tosses a basket full of invitations onto your back. "Oh, by the way, here's a map of Ponyville so you won't get lost! TIME FOR MY PARTY CANNON TO GET BUSY MAKING WITH THE PARTYNESS!"

"Your...what?"

By then, Pinkie is already inside and you're alone. With a sigh, you study the map for a moment and then walk over to Rarity's boutique to invite her to your party. As you walk, you feel a cool, fresh breeze blow by you and stir up the leaves in the trees along the path. You look up towards the sun, shielding your eyes but wondering how in the world a pony can control such a large and important being. I wonder if the other side of the world is asleep right now...or what if their world isn't even round? This new world still puzzles you, but you have no more time to ponder this.

You finally come to Rarity's Carousel Boutique, a large, fancy-looking building that was home to the white unicorn. You knock on the door and wait for an answer.

"Come in!" A voice says in a song-song voice from inside.

As you open the door, you see more magnificent dresses than you could imagine. Huge, pink, sparkly dresses. Skin-tight, pastel dresses. If you were an extreme fashionista like some of your friends back on Earth you would be all over the place.

"Oh, [Y/N], I wasn't expecting you, darling. Come in, come. I need you help, actually." You walk up to Rarity, and before you can say anything, she tosses your basket of invitations on her desk and slips a frilly pink and black dress over your head. "Hmm..." She studies you head to toe. "Too...froufrou. But not to worry dear, it's the dress, not you. In fact, have you ever considered modeling? Fluttershy tried it out for a while, but it wasn't for her. Ooh, perhaps it is for you."

"Rarity, I-"

"Oh, I have just the thing!" She interrupts. Pulling the pink and black dress off of you, she replaces it with a beautiful, much more "you" pastel red dress. It has a slight lace trim and a very elegant form. "Oh my...that is perfect. Just perfect. It works beautifully with your mane." She pulls a mirror in front of you, and you check it out in awe. Rarity is right, it does compliment your [H/C] mane. Although you don't like to admit it, you look very pretty in this dress.

"You know what, [Y/N]? That dress is perfect for you, so you can keep it," she takes it off of you and tosses it into a fashionable little shopping bag.

"Wow, Rarity...thank you. That is so generous." It's then that you remember to give her an invitation and grab your basket in your mouth. "Oh, here Rarity..." You hand her a letter in a small white envelope. "Pinkie Pie is throwing me a party later. You're invited!"

"Oh, joy! And that will give you a chance to wear your new dress! Don't worry, the other girls have dresses from me, so nopony will feel left out! I can spread the word to that they should wear their dresses!" As you nod and say goodbye, she yells after you, "Toodle-loo, darling! Don't forget about your dress!"

From Rarity's boutique, you make your way over to Fluttershy's cottage with an invitation for Fluttershy and Discord. As you approach, you find that Fluttershy is no longer gardening, but inside chatting with Discord and eating cookies. You knock on the door and everything inside suddenly goes silent. Fluttershy sure can move quietly. Without any warning, the door opens quickly and a pair of teal eyes look out at you. After she sees it's just you, Fluttershy lightens up.

"Oh, [Y/N], back so soon?"

"Actually..." You put down the basket and hand her an invitation. "Pinkie is throwing me a pony party, so you're invited."

"And I'm not?" A pouting Discord appears behind Fluttershy. "How rude."

"Don't worry, Discord, I have an invitation for you too." You hand him an envelope and notice the time on a clock inside their house. "Oh, look at the time! The party is starting in an hour, and I still have to deliver invitations to Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight! I'm sorry to leave so quickly, but I just got so caught up and now I'm behind! Don't forget to wear your dress from Rarity! Oh, goodbye!" You run off, leaving the pegasus and draconequus behind.

You trot quickly over to Twilight tree, anxious to keep a good pace.

"Hi, [Y/N]!" Twilight says from her upstairs window. "Wait..." Her expression hardens. "I thought I sent you out to make friends. So, you've already befriended every pony in Ponyville? Pretty fast for a pony who wasn't too keen on this idea in the first place."

You look up at her. "No, that's not it. Here, let me in and I can explain everything."

"Alright, but no funny business. You need to learn everything you can about friendship." She turns her head back inside. "Spike, let her in!"

The door opens and behind it is a small purple and green dragon. "Hey, I don't think we've met before. I'm Spike." The dragon puts out his hand, which you cautiously grab and gently shake.

"Nice to meet you. I'm [Y/N]."

"[Y/N]. Nice name. Are you new to Ponyville? I know just about everyone here..." Before you can explain who you are, he continues, "Anyways, I'm Spike, as I said earlier, and I'm Princess Twilight's number one assistant! I assume you've heard of her, I mean, who hasn't?"

Right then, Twilight walks down the stairs and sees you. "Spike, this is the pony from the human world that I was telling you about. The one who will be staying with us?"

"This is her?" Spike looks you over quickly, then turns back to Twilight. "She looks just like any other pony. I thought you said she was very powerful with magic so far."

Giving him a dirty look, Twilight walks over to you. "Yes, Spike, I did say that. She may look like us, but she learned a levitation spell in under five minutes, although she had never used magic before, or even known of it. I'm confident that she will be a great student of magic and will learn much."

"Anyways..." You hand Twilight an invitation.

She takes it and quickly skims it. "Ah, so I see Pinkie Pie is finally throwing you your pony party. Sure, Spike and I will be there."

"Oh, and Rarity wants us to wear our dresses she made for us."

Twilight nods, then sees the party's date and rolls her eyes. "The party is today?! Now we can all be sure that Pinkie isn't the Element of Patience. Anyways, I'll see you there, [Y/N]." Twilight walks back inside and Spike shuts the door after her with a final wave goodbye to you.

Checking your map again, you find Rainbow Dash's cloud home and run off towards it. By the time you get there, you're breathing heavily and can barely talk. "R-rain...Rainbow Dash!" You yell up at her cloud house. A rainbow mane and pastel blue head appears on top of the cloud and looks down at you.

"Yeah, [Y/N]?"

"Here, help me up with you, Rainbow, I need to give you something! How...how do I get up there?" You see that the cloud is too high to jump to, but there must be some way to get up besides flying.

"Um, [Y/N], you do know that only pegasus ponies can walk on clouds?" Rainbow Dash raises an eyebrow at you.

"Oh..." You say, a bit disappointed that you can never see Rainbow Dash's house now, since you are a unicorn.

"Anyways, what do you need?"

"Here!" You pull out an invitation and throw it up as high as you can, and Rainbow Dash, being her strong and fast self, jumps up and catches it in midair. "That's an invitation for a party Pinkie is throwing for me in an hour. Be there or be square!"

Rainbow laughed. "Now you're speaking my language! I'll be there!"

"Oh, and wear your dress! Rarity's orders!"

Rainbow flew in place and did an army salute. "Ma'am. yes, ma'am!"

"See you there!" Without another word, you galloped off to Applejack's farm with the last invitation. You knew where that was, considered that it was a huge part of Ponyville and an important place for ponies to get their food: Sweet Apple Acres. You get excited as you see trees in the distance and run straight into them, not even noticing that these trees aren't apple trees.

"Ok...I'm so lost," you had wandered for a while, but now, as you look around, you see only unrecognizable trees. Things aren't getting better, because now you're beginning to hear voices and howling. It almost sounds like wolves...are there wolves in Equestria?

Just as you begin wondering about this, a bush near you rustles and a growl emits from it. You shudder and take a few steps back, only to back up into a grove of trees that are grown together very tightly. You press your ears down in fear as a freakish creature unknown to you steps out of the bushes. It looks like a wolf in form, but instead of skin and bones, this wolf is made of trees and leaves, but still looks very deadly.

You scream and run past it as fast as you can, luckily taking it by surprise. However, as you're running, it howls to summon its packmates to the hunt. You run as fast as you can until your legs can't carry you anymore and you collapse in the forest.

You open your eyes finally in a small hut. As you look around, you see that you are laying on a mat inside of the hut. A black cauldron sits in the middle and in front of it stands a striped pony. _Wait, that's not a pony...it's a zebra!_ The zebra looks away from her cauldron and turns to you.

"Ah, young pony, I see you've awaken. You were running from the Timberwolves, if I'm not mistaken."

"Um, yes, I was, but then I just collapsed and now I'm here...my basket!" You look to your side, however, to find your basket with Applejack's invite and your map and your boutique bag with your dress.

"Physical exertion has tired you, no doubt, but it is you who are the one that took the wrong route. Next time you have a map, do not get cocky. These old woods paths can be quite rocky.

Rubbing your eyes, you ask her, "Who...who are you?"

"I am Zecora, a zebra, as you see. And whatever in the world what might your name be?"

"I'm [Y/N], and..." You gasp. "Oh no! The party starts in fifteen minutes! If I don't hurry, Applejack and I will be late!"

Zecora nods. "Then go, little pony, and get there in time. But getting there will be easier with a map, you may find."

"Thank you, Zecora. Thank you for saving me!" You pause before leaving. "Would you like to come to my party? I don't have an invitation for you, but I'm sure Pinkie wouldn't mind..."

Zecora chuckles. "I can't, [Y/N], I'm busy today, but thank you for the offer anyway. Now go to your party to sing, dance and clap, but do not forget to check your map."

"I won't, goodbye Zecora!" You grab your basket and bag and head out. Once outside, you follow Zecora's instructions and check your map, and then begin galloping in the right direction. After what seems like forever, you see the Apple farm ahead and luckily enough, Applejack is sitting right outside.

"Howdy partner." She is leaning against the barn with her eyes closed and a piece of hay in her mouth.

"Applejack, oh thank goodness you're right here! Pinkie's party for me is starting in ten minutes, and I got lost, but a zebra helped me, so now I have to give you your invitation." You offer her the letter. "Make sure to wear Rarity's dress for you."

"Ten minutes? Hay, ya'll must've gotten really lost out there. Here, I'll be right over. You run on ahead of me while I get my dress on."

You nod and practically fly away from there, you're running so fast. Finally, you find yourself at Sugar Cube Corner. Before anyone can see you, you grab your dress out of the boutique bag and slip it out, then you take a deep breath and walk in the door and up the stairs to Pinkie's room. As you walk in, you realize that the lights are off so you can't see anything. All of a sudden, the lights flicker on, and all of your pony friends, including Discord, Zecora, and Spike, jump up with a loud, "Surprise!" You let out a small yell of surprise and then smile at all of your friends standing around you. Then you notice Applejack standing there in her dress too.

"Applejack, how did you get here so fast?" You ask, stupefied.

"Well, I got a lift," she chuckles, glancing at Rainbow Dash.

"We just really wanted you to be surprised!" Rainbow said.

"And Zecora? I thought you said you couldn't make it."

"Your pony friends had warned me before to tell you that I had to fix my decor." She smiles at you warmly.

Pinkie Pie jumps in. "Yeah! I had already told you about the party so of course you would be expecting a non-surprise party! But then, we surprised you! SURPRISE!"

"And all of our dresses look simply divine, if I do say so myself," says Rarity, who is wearing a magnificent magenta dress with lots of lace.

"Yes, Rarity, these dresses are absolutely beautiful," Twilight agrees.

"I'm so happy we're having this party together. It's very nice, Pinkie," Fluttershy says.

"Thanks, Fluttershy! And this party will be fantabulous!" Pinkie bounces up and down in excitement.

"You girls are the best friends ever! Thank you so much!" You say, and then all seven of you come in for a group hug. Zecora stands to the side smiling, while Discord and Spike hang out by the punch bowl as they watch everyone hug.

"Ugh, girls," Discord says, taking a sip of punch.

"I know what you mean," Spike agrees.

 _Ok, this chapter was really fun for me to write, especially because of the fact that I get to write Discord and Fluttershy together. Ever since Keep Calm and Flutter On, I've been in love with their relationships, both their relationship as friends and their relationship as a pair. I really do love the DiscordxFluttershy shipping, but I'll save that for a future fanfic. Anyways, hope you enjoyed, until next time, this is Bronygirl6729._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Party Crashers

 _All right, it's finally here guys! Thank you so much for your your support and know that I wouldn't be able to write this story without you! That's all I have to say, so sit back and enjoy the read!_

 _Too...much...cake..._

You're sitting at the table in Pinkie Pie's room, with Twilight sitting to your left and Rarity to your right. Rainbow, AJ, and Fluttershy are all sitting across from you doing the same thing, but Pinkie is still dancing and singing along to yet another song. Zecora had already gone home.

"Perhaps that cake-eating contest was a bad idea," Rarity moans, resting her head on the wooden table while the others mumble their agreement.

"Come on, ponies! The party isn't over yet, and so let's dance while we can!" Pinkie dances like a pro, although looking at her, you wouldn't think it to be so.

"So, Twilight, you used to be a unicorn?" You ask Twilight curiosly, still resting at the table with the other girls.

"Yes, I was actually born an ordinary unicorn, but as I got older, I found that I had great talent in magic and enrolled in a school for gifted unicorns, where I met and trained under Princess Celestia. After many years, I moved here to Ponyvile to learn about friendship, and when I recently mastered friendship, Celestia gave me my wings..." She gives her wings a tiny flap wthout moving her body. "...and I became a princess."

"So...anyone can become a princess? Even someone, I mean, somepony, like me?"

Twilight considers this for a moment, and then nods. "Yes, any of you girls could, bu you would have to master an art such as friendship or love, and to master it, you must not only fully understand it, but experience it."

"Huh." You ponder this for a second, only to be feel a pang of hurt shoot though your stomach. You moan again and rest your head on the table like Rarity. "Anything else interesting for me to learn about? Any...enemies?"

"Well..." Rainbow Dash says as she looks over at Discord, who is chatting at a table with Spike. "I might know someone with an interesting past." She seems almost hostile as she speaks.

"What are you talking about?" You ask.

"[Y/N], if you must know, Discord actually used to be one of our worst enemies," Rarity answers for Rainbow.

You suddenly burst out laughing, but then stop as the girls continue staring at you with solemn faces. "Come on, girls, are you serious? This is Discord we're talking about. He loves pranks and chocolate milk rain. What's so evil about that?"

They all exchange glances, and then Twilight speaks. "With our help, he has learned to tone down his antics and is no longer a threat. However, not too long ago, Discord was not merely a mischief maker, but a lord of chaos. He took over the throne thousands of yeas ago which made life miserable for ponies. Celestia stopped him by turning him to stone, but much, much later, during our lives, he escaped. When we tried to stop him, he made us forget our friendship and turn into the opposite of our true selves, which, let me tell you, wasn't pretty." Twilight pauses, grief-struck for a moment. "Eventually, we were reminded of our friendship and were able to encase him in stone again."

You look at her, puzzled. "Then why is he here now and not a statue anymore?"

"Well, this is where it gets interesting. Princess Celestia brought Discord here a few months ago so that we could reform him. She wanted to use his magic for good, so we reluctantly agreed. She said that she believed Fluttershy would know best how to reform him, and she did. She befriended him, which caused him to see the benefits of friendship. After being reformed, he moved to Canterlot for about a month to help the Princesses with their magic and other things. But, after he finished, he came back here and is roomates with Fluttershy now, since nopony else trusts him enough yet to share a house with him. He said that the city life wasn't for him, but I think he just missed Fluttershy."

This causes everypony to look at the butter-colored mare. Fluttershy laughs embarrassedly and fiddles with her hooves. "Oh...I doubt it, h-he just likes small towns, I guess."

"Oh, come on!" Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes. "You should've seen her when Discord left for Canterlot. She was all, 'Oh, he is such a sweetheart.'" Rainbow flutters her eyelashes, imitating Fluttershy.

Fluttershy blushes fiercely, ducking her head in embarrassment. "I was just saying what I felt."

"Then I can only imagine what it is you feel," Rainbow said with a smirk.

"Ok," you interrupt Rainbow's teasing. "Any other enemies?"

"Um, there was Nightmare Moon, but we defeated her a long time ago and turned her back into Princess Luna," Twilight said thoughtfully.

"What about Queen Chrysalis?" AJ says.

"Oh, yes, my brother, Shining Armor, and his wife, Princess Cadence, defeated her with their love. Hmm, I wonder how they're doing now as rulers of the Crystal Empire. Speaking of the Crystal Empire, the only other enemy I can think of is King Sombra, former ruler of the Crystal Empire, but we also defeated and destroyed him. So, no...we have no enemies right now."

As Twilight speaks these last words, a rumble shakes the entire building, causing Pinkie to stop dancing and everyone else to look up as a large figure breaks through the roof. The ceiling collapses, falling on everypony and causing a scream to emit from you as dust blinds your vision. As the dust clears away, you look around to see you and your friends buried by pieces of the ceiling. You hear a few groans, but they at least tell you that everypony is all right.

All of a sudden, a figure lands in front of you and stares you right in the eye. It takes you a moment to register that this is a pony. She is a very dark shade of violet with reptilian-looking yellow slit eyes and large alicorn wings. Her mane and tail are cut short and jet black in color with streaks of blood red running through them. She is wearing a black bodysuit with slim black boots. The most terrifying and outlandish thing about her is her horn, which is broken in half. With her frightening appearane, it is hard for you to not cower in fear.

"Yes," she purrs in a metallic voice. "You are right to cower before me. I am quite...fear-inspiring."

"Hey, leave her alone!" A tired Twilight emerges from the wreckage, followed by a dazed but otherwise unhurt Spike.

One by one, all of the girls emerge from the rubble and luckily seem to only have a few cuts and bruises.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash threatens. "Get lost, bug eyes!"

"Shut up! You do not insult me!" Rainbow Dash keeps a menacing expression although she is clearly stunned by the alicorn's reaction. "Something is different. Somepony has returned for my crown. My...Golden Crown. One of you are supposedly meant to wield it." She looks straight into your [E/C] eyes. "Well, I don't like when my property is stolen, or when I hear rumors about somepony encouraging other ponies to take what isn't theirs. Tell me, [Y/N]...who really wants the crown, you or Celestia?" Her eyes wander towards your crown cutie mark and your look at your flank also. "Don't think that the fact that you have a tatoo of a crown on your flank means that your destiny is to steal my crown. After all, destinies are chosen by you, not for you." She is so close to you that you feel her hot breath on your face.

"Leave...her...alone. We have done nothing to you," Twilight practically growls, her wings out and her horn pointed at the mystery mare in pure fury. "You have made your case quite clear, and now, we will hear no more of it. So get lost."

"Very well. I'll leave...for now. But you have been warned." As she opens up her wings to fly off, you step forward.

"Wait!" You say, causing her to stop. "Who...who are you?"

She lets a sly grin spread across her face. "You do not know who I am, [Y/N]?" She steps closer, so close that her voice is but a whisper in your ear. "I am Reptantis."

As these words are whispered in your ear, the mare disappears without a trace, leaving only an echo of her cruel laughter behind.

You stare after her in shock. "She...she knew who I was. She knew my name."

You whip your head around to see a frantic Fluttershy searching for Discord. "Discord! Discord! Girls, I can't find him!" She runs over to a rather large piece of ceiling and tries to lift it, but to no avail. You run over quickly and help her lift it, and then look around to see the other girls helping too. You finally lift the piece of ceiling high enough for Fluttershy to dart under it. "Girls, he's down here, but I think he's unconcious!" You can tell she's crying.

"Rainbow, go help her!" Twilight yells through gritted teeth.

"No, if Rainbow leaves, I won't be able to hold this side up!" AJ snaps, obviously struggling to keep her grip on the fragment.

"I'll go!" You say quickly offer.

"Be careful," Twilight warns.

You nod and slowly release your hold on the big piece of rubble and slide under where Fluttershy disappeared. The entire fragment is about ten feet in both length and width so it doesn't take long to see Fluttershy hunched over an unconscious draconequus. She looks up at you with tears streaming down her dirty yellow face.

"I can't move him! Help me, please!" She whimpers as a loud creak sounds and the fragment above slides down towards you.

Without responding, you run over to them and grab Discord by the scruff of his neck and throw his upper half on top of your back. "Fluttershy, put his legs and tail on your back and follow me out!"

Fluttershy nods and heaves Discord onto her back. Once she has him secured, you fix your stare on the small shaft of light coming in from where you came. With every giving moment, the ceiling fragment is comig closer to your heads, closer to shutting you in, closer to collapsing. But that light can save you.

"Come on, walk with me slowly," you shout over he creaking of the fragment. You and Fluttershy start walking while balancing Discord on your backs. There is little oxygen under the large fragment which causes you to teeter a bit, but you keep going as strong as you can. The light begins getting larger and larger until, finally, you step into it.

The enormous weight is lifted from your back by strange distorted voices and blurs in your vision. You look around, dazed, and try to breathe in, but instead, fall to the ground. You frantically search for Fluttershy and Discord until your eyes forcefully shut themselves.

You feel your eyes flutter open after what seems like an eternity, but you see nothing for a moment. _Have I gone blind?_ After a moment, however, your vision clears to reveal an empty white room. As you look down, you see that you have a hospital gown on and are hooked up to some sort of machinery. Suddenly, however, you realize that the room is, in fact, not empty.

"[Y/N], how do you do?" As you look to your left, you see a battered draconequus looking at you with tired red eyes.

You chuckle softly. "How well could I be doing in a hostpital?"

"Hmm, true. So...I guess I have to thank you for saving my life, because no matter how sappy it may be, that was very brave." He looks at you gratefully.

"It was no problem, I wasn't going to let you die. But you should thank Fluttershy too for diving in after you. I never thought she could ever be that brave. But when your friend is in danger, I guess even the shyest of ponies will do whatever it takes." You fiddle with your hooves and look up at him.

Before you two can say any more, the hallway fills with a quiet voice. "I brought them flowers, I just want to leave them, I won't wake them, I promise."

"Quick, pretend to be asleep. If she comes in and we're awake, she'll think she's disturbed us." Discord whispers.

You nod back, then settle down facing Discord and close your eyes as he does the same. You finally hear the doorknob rattle and hoofbeats approaching your beds. Fluttershy sets something down on your table, presumably flowers, and then turns to Discord. You open one eye to watch her as she sets down a boquet of roses from her own garden on Discord's table, and then walks over to him. She looks at his face deeply, whispers something, and then gives him a soft kiss. You loose your breath for a moment as she does this. _She thinks he's asleep. She desn't know that he is only pretending. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!_ After finishing her kiss, Fluttershy walks out of the door and closes it behind her. You and Discord sit straight up, both of you shocked. As you turn to Discord, you see how hard he's trying to hide his blush.

"I...I never thought she had an interest in me," he says, still looking at the door where she left.

"Neither did I. I mean, Rainbow Dash was teasing her about it, but I though she was just messing around. It looks like I was very wrong."

"You think?" Discord says, trying to replace his embarrassment and shock with sarcasm. "A-and I don't want you telling anypony else about this, got it, [Y/N]?"

You pretend to zip your lips, lock them, and throw away the key. "Not a word will escape my mouth." You pause. "Hey Discord...what is it that she whispered to you?"

He raises his eyebrows. "You mean you didn't hear that?" You shake your head no. "Well, you know...she said..." He mumbles.

"Didn't quite catch that," you say, raising an eyebrow at him. Suddenly, your jaw falls open. "Did she say what I think she said?"

"Maybe...but it could've just been friendly, like a get well 'I love you.'" He plays with his lion paw and eagle claw.

"I don't think so, Dicord."

"Well, what do you want me to do? I'm in a hospital bed! Anyways, it doesn't matter. What I want to know is why the ceiling crumbled on top of me and broke my leg!" He looks at you, obviously desperate to change the subject. Sighing, you explain everything to him, everything about Reptantis and her threat. "Wait...Reptantis? That is a ridiculous name! She calls herself evil? At least when I was evil, I had the most amazing name of all...Discord! Just hearing it is scary! Reptantis...she sounds like a lizard!" The draconequus bursts out laughing at this and you roll your eyes.

"If you had seen her, you would've understood. The freakiest part was her horn...it was broken in half. How can she perform magic if her horn is broken?" Discord looks down almost guiltily and your suspicion suddenly rises. "Discord...what aren't you telling me?"

"Well, [Y/N], you see...when we were young, Celestia, Luna, and I knew Reptantis. Of course, back then, she just called herself Repta and her horn was unbroken. Well, as we got to be teens, we stopped seeing her, but we heard stories...stories that she cut off half of her horn so that the magic inside would have no boundaries, so that nothing could stop her from taking over the city of Hollow Shades. Celestia stopped her eventaully, but I don't know why she had her sights set on Hollow Shades. But yes...we knew each other once."

"Huh," you say. "The world really does work in funny ways sometimes. Now we're being threatened by your childhood friend."

"Not only was she my childhood friend." Discord pauses, then continues hesitantly. "She was my childhood...love."

"Hello, hello!" A pink head peeks through the door. "Is anypony awake in there?"

You and Discord sit up in your beds. "Come on in, girls, we're up." Six pastel ponies walk in with big smiles on their faces and make their way to your beds.

"Discord, [Y/N], how are you two feeling?" Twilight asks.

"Oh, Twilight, I'm not so great," Discord moans. "I don't know if I'm going to make it."

"Oh, is that so?" Fluttershy smirks. "I guess that means you don't want this cupcake from Pinkie Pie..."

"On second thought, I'm feeling much better now." He grabs the cupcake out of the pegasus' hoof and devours it in one gulp.

"How about you, [Y/N]?" Twilight looks at you.

"I'm alright," you answer. "I was just a little oxygen-deprived when I came out from under the rubble. Discord is the one with an actual injury."

"That's why we're getting you out of the hospital today," Rainbow Dash says.

"Really?" You ask excitedly.

"Of course we are, darling," Rarity assures you. "You have a clean bill of health!"

"So you're all leaving me at the mercy of these surgeons with sharp knives and pointy objects?!" Discord objects.

"It's all right, Discord, I'll come and visit you every day," Fluttershy says, putting her hoof on the draconequus' lion paw, causing him to blush profoundly.

"After that, we must travel to Canterlot and warn the princesses of our new threat," Twilight says.

"Oh, and sugarcube...what did that mare say her name was?" Applejack asks you.

You pause and then answer, "Reptantis. Her name is Reptantis. And Discord already knows her."

 _All right, so remember how I said that I wouldn't have any Fluttercord romance in this fanfic? Well, the story decided otherwise, although their romance will not be the story's main focus. But please, no shipping wars. If you don't like the shipping, keep it to yourself. Besides that, I've now introduced an OC of mine who will be this story's villain. By the way, Reptantis means reptile in Latin, in case you were wondering. Well, on to chapter four! This is Bronygirl6729 signing off for a while._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: The Warning

 _So, here's chapter four! I'm so sorry this took so long, and I'm also sorry if I have a few errors in here, I'm on vacation so I'm writing a lot of this on my phone. Besides that, enjoy! Oh, and by the way, Hollow Shades is a real city in Equestria, just search for a map of Equestria and you'll find it just northeast of Canterlot._

You stick your head out of the train and let the cool wind ruffle your [H/C] mane. Despite the new threat looming over you, you couldn't help but feel utterly calm.

"How ya'll doing out there, [Y/N]?" Applejack asks from inside the train. You slip your head back into the train with the other six girls.

"This will be so fun! We get to see Canterlot and the princesses and everypony there! Maybe we can have a party!" Pinkie Pie says enthusiastically.

"Do you think Discord and Spike will be ok taking care of our animals together?" Fluttershy frets.

"They'll do great, sugarcube," AJ assures her. "Right now, the most important thing is giving the princess a heads-up about Reptantis."

"I agree," Twilight says, looking up from a book. "She think that [Y/N] wants to steal her crown away and we can't afford any suspicion on her part if we do want that crown."

Your ears perk up. "Wait. You want me to steal a crown? She may be evil, but I don't steal things from others."

"Well, perhaps not steal," Rarity interjects. "But we do need it. Just take a look at your flank, it's your destiny. You need that crown, darling, and if you don't get it, your destiny will never be fulfilled. That is just the way things are."

 _Your destiny is chosen by you, not for you._ Reptantis' words spin through your head again. All your life, you were taught that you can be whatever you want to be, that you decide your destiny. But now you see that is not fully true. Physical and mental limitations can stop you from doing things in the real world, and in Equestria, it seems that a simple mark on your flank was enough of a limitation. _She's wrong. My destiny already has been chosen...and it's up to me to follow it._

The sound of the train screeching to a stop interrupts your thoughts.

"Everypony off for Canterlot!" The conductor yells. As he yells this, you and the Mane 6 all stand up and trot off of the train and into the middle of Canterlot.

"Wow..." you say, looking around. It surely was a big city, the obvious choice for the capital of Equestria. When you had traveled back to Ponyville after first arriving here, you hadn't really had a chance to look around, it had just all went by so quickly and you were so confused. Now, the world seems to be staying perfectly still. You do notice something different about the Canterlot ponies though. They all have their noses in the air and walk around like they're better than everypony. _So, not only is this the capital of the country, it's the high class, rich area to live! Now it all seems to make sense._

"All right, girls, let's head up to the Princesses' castle." Twilight takes the lead and everypony else follows behind her, chatting with each other. You end up between Rainbow Dash and Rarity.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, why don't you acquaint [Y/N] with your spectacular Wonderbolts?" Rarity suggests.

Rainbow squeals in pure excitement. "Oh, the Wonderbolts! They are so awesome! They're these fliers, and they do shows and stuff like that and everypony loves them! You should see their stunts and rescues! One day, I'm going to be a Wonderbolt. I already attended the Academy, and I think Spitfire likes my guts, so I got high hopes!"

As Rainbow continues on about how cool the Wonderbolts are, you look up to see a large castle looming over you. It's very beautiful and the biggest castle you had ever seen. _A mountain cliff, what a strange location for a castle._

"All right, girls, stick together in here. I don't want anypony getting lost," Twilight warns as the castle gets closer and closer until your group is upon it.

As you walk up to the door, a royal guard stands in your way. "Halt. Who goes there?"

Twilight steps forward. "Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends."

The guard's expression immediately changes. "Oh, Princess. Please, right this way." He bows as you all walk by and into the castle.

You look around to find yourself in a throne room with a high roof and beautiful designs on the walls. You feel as though you stepped into the sixteenth century. As you look to the throne, you see the two sisters, Celestia and Luna, sitting in their thrones chatting about the bad storm that hit Baltimare.

Celestia finally notices your group and stands. "Ah, girls. What a pleasant surprise." Everyone bows curtly, and then Twilight speaks.

"Princess Celestia, we have some bad news to share with you." She pauses and looks around at all of your faces. "A new threat has shown itself, an alicorn mare named Reptantis. Discord...he said that you and Luna used to know her?"

Princess Celestina's expression turned grim. "I should have warned you...I should have done something."

"What do you mean, princess?" Twilight asks.

"[Y/N]..." The princess turns to look at you. "You remember how I told you that your parents sent you to the human world to protect you from powerful threats?" You nod. "Reptantis...she was the main threat. She was angry with me and wanted to kill all of my heirs. You are an heir to the throne, as is Twilight. However, Reptantis didn't know of Twilight's existence, only yours. If you had stayed, you would have been killed, but Twilight was able to stay under the radar until I was able to defeat Reptantis."

"So...I am destined to be a...a princess?" You glance at everypony in shock.

"Yes, [Y/N], one day, once Luna and I have...passed on, you and Twilight will take over our current roles as rulers of all of Equestria. However, to be a princess, you must become an alicorn, and to become an alicorn, you must find your crown. Twilight has already found her crown, her Element of Magic tiara. And now, it is time to discover your Element and wield your crown."

"My crown..." Your gaze moves towards your flank. "The Golden Crown."

Celestia nods. "Now you're beginning to understand."

"But princess, the role that you and Princess Luna have can only be played by two ponies tied together by the close bond of sisterhood," Twilight interjects.

Celestia chuckles. "Twilight, you and [Y/N] will do just fine as rulers. Your bond is stronger than you can ever imagine, you must trust me. Have a little faith in your friends, young princess." Twilight nods solemnly and Celestia turns to Luna. "Now, Luna, would you please show the girls to the guest room set up for them in the library? It's getting too late for them to travel back to Ponyville. We can speak more in the morning."

Luna stands regally. "Of course, dear sister. Come, follow me." Luna trots down a long narrow hallway and your group follows behind her. After a bit of walking, she stops at a large red door and pushes it open. As you walk through, your jaw falls open. Surrounding you are endless walls of books, most likely every book in this world. On the ground are small desks, each with its own small lamp for reading.

"Hey, look girls, we're famous!" Pinkie calls to everypony, her eyes already flipping through a thick, new-looking book. Sure enough, the page that Pinkie Pie is on has a picture of the six ponies wielding their Elemts against Nightmare Moon. You glance up at the shy, quiet pony, trying to picture her as the evil Nightmare Moon.

"You can sleep on these bed cushions over here," Luna instructs you, using her hoof to point at seven large mattresses with soft, fluffy blankets on top of them.

"Oh, thank Celestia, I am simply exhausted!" Rarity complains, dramatically collapsing on the cushion.

"Yeah, I gotta say, I'm plumb tuckered out," Applejack yawns.

As everypony gets settled into their makeshift beds, you realize how thirsty you are. "Um, Luna, do you think I could get a cup of water?"

She nods. "Oh course. I shall call a maid to get some for you. Now, goodnight, fillies."

Sure enough, a young maid arrives a minute later with water in a plastic cup and leaves it with you. As you drink it, you look around to see that everypony is already asleep, and, for the first time since you arrived in Equestria, begin to think about your home and mother. _Aunt Becky must be worried sick about me. Oh, and my mom...she probably thinks that I've been kidnapped. I miss her..._ You walk over to a reading desk farther away from the sleeping girls, sit down, and turns on the small light, still holding your cup. You begin humming The Cup Song, every note reminding you more and more of your mother teaching you how to do the routine with the cups. I wonder... You hold the cup in your hoof, happy to find that you can still somewhat grip the cup. You begin quietly tapping the cup against the desk, then flip it over and clap. After observing that you are able to do that, you speed it up until you are playing The Cup Song. Engulfed in the memories and music, you begin to sing.

 _I got a ticket for the long way round_

 _Two bottles of whiskey for the way_

 _And I sure would like some sweet company_

 _And I'm leaving tomorrow, what do you say?_

 _When I'm gone_

 _When I'm gone_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

 _You're gonna miss me by my hair_

 _You're gonna miss me everywhere, oh_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

 _When I'm gone_

 _When I'm gone_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

 _You're gonna miss me by my walk_

 _You're gonna miss me by my talk, oh_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

You let the music take you home, back to your mom and house. You sing with all of your heart, letting it be your outlet for all of your bottled-up homesickness. Your no longer in the library with all of your pony friends, but in your own small world.

 _I got a ticket for the long way round_

 _The one with the prettiest of views_

 _It's got mountains, it's got rivers_

 _It's got sights to give you shivers_

 _But I'm sure it'd be prettier with you_

 _When I'm gone_

 _When I'm gone_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

 _You're gonna miss me by my walk_

 _You're gonna miss me by my talk, oh_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

At this point, you're slamming your cup around on the desk, flipping it around and then clapping so hard that your hooves sting. You don't care. Everything is finally out there, and you're putting your heart and soul into it for the finale.

 _When I'm gone_

 _When I'm gone_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

 _You're gonna miss me by my hair_

 _You're gonna miss me everywhere, oh_

 _You're sure gonna miss me when I'm gone_

 _When I'm gone_

 _When I'm gone_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

 _You're gonna miss me by my walk_

 _You're gonna miss me by my talk, oh_

 _You're gonna miss me when I'm gone_

For the ending, you slam your cup down so loud that it echoes throughout the library. Then, you bury your face in your arms and cry. You feel so lost here, and definitely alone, even with your new friends.

"That was SPECTACULAR!" A high-pitched voice yells out from behind you. As you whip around, you see all six of your pony friends watching you.

"H-how long have you been standing there?" You ask them.

"Long enough, sugarcube," AJ says comfortingly, walking up to you and putting her arm around you.

"What was that anyways?" Rainbow asks.

"I think it was music from the human world," Twilight concludes.

"Yeah," you sniffle. "It's a special song that you sing with cups instead of instruments. My mom...she taught me how to do it."

"Well, i-if it makes you feel any better, I think you have a very pretty voice," Fluttershy soothes.

"Thanks girls, you're the best friends I could ask for," you say, wiping your eyes. You feel much better now that you've cried a little bit.

"Come on, [Y/N], let's go to bed," Twilight says, and you follow her back to the mattresses to sleep.

A bright light shines onto your face. "Good morning, sleepyhead!" You open your tired [E/C] eyes to see Pinkie standing over you, smiling.

"Ugh, Pinkie Pie...it's so early," you groan.

She nods. "Uh huh, we need to get an early start! Besides, breakfast is starting in fifteen minutes, so we gots to be there!"

"What?!" You yell, suddenly wide awake. "I have to get ready! Um...is breakfast with the princess casual or formal?"

"It's alright, [Y/N], you don't have to wear anything...sadly," Rarity says, and as you look to your side you see all of the girls brushing their manes and tails and putting on makeup. This intrigues you, you didn't know the girls wore makeup. Even Applejack put on a small bit of eye shadow, while Rarity was practically dousing her face with mascara, eye shadow, lipstick, and blush. You even saw her put on false eyelashes at one point.

"Um, can I borrow some makeup, girls? I really don't have any," you say.

"Of course, darling," Rarity answers you. "Here, you can borrow my mascara and some silver eye shadow to bring out your eyes. Oh, and I never use this lipstick..." You have no time to protest as Rarity dumps a pile of makeup onto you.

"Thank you, Rarity," you stain to say. "You're...oof, too generous." Rarity nods, and you softly rub the tip of your hoof against the eye shadow and smooth it over your eyelids. Then, you use your magic to levitate the mascara bottle up to your eye and gently stroke your lashes with the brush. Lastly, you again levitate a light lipstick up to your lips and put on a thin layer. It's not too much, but it makers you look much less tired. Rarity looks at your makeup and gasps.

"So chic, so stylish, so...YOU!" She giggles and puts on a last bit of blush before walking to the door. You follow her and the other girls follow you as you leave the library. Once in the hallway, Twilight, who knows the castle best, takes the lead and walks until you reach the dining room.

"Ah, good morning, girls," Princess Celestia greets your group as you walk in the tall dining room door. Everypony greets Celestia and Luna as they take their seats. Once everypony is seated, nine butler ponies walk out, all levitating trays of food above their heads, similar to the way waiters hold their trays in the human world. One tray is set down in front of each pony, and when you take the lid off of your tray, you find...hay and grain? You tilt your head at this, since the only food you've eaten since you got to Equestria has been fruit and vegetables.

"What is it, [Y/N]? Never had hay before?" Twilight asks, happily scarfing down her oats.

"No...back in the human world, I would usually have pancakes, eggs, and bacon for a special breakfast." Everypony stops eating and gasps, staring at you. You shrink back in surprise, unsure of why they're so shocked.

"Eggs and...bacon?" Fluttershy asks.

"You eat _animals?"_ Rainbow stares at you in horror.

"What, you guys don't?" You ask, and then you finally realize that these are ponies. _Of course they don't eat meat, they're vegetarians!_

"Well, [Y/N], now that you're a pony, you must learn to eat this food," Celestia says, obviously having already known about human diets beforehand.

"Alright, I'll give it a shot," you say, levitating a fork to grabs a strand of hay. You bring it to your mouth and warily take a bite. You are surprised to find that it actually tastes very good, very spaghetti-like in texture and juicy, although you wouldn't think it to be so. "Mmm," is all you can say, you're too busy eating.

Celestia chuckles. "I thought you might like it, you are a pony now."

"So, sister, shall I prepare for the ponies to make their departure soon?" Luna asks her sister as soon as everypony is finished eating.

"Yes, Luna, but first I want to give [Y/N] a book exclusive to our library here that I believe she should read, as well as the other girls." A servant pony walks in holding a large, dusty book in her magical grip. She sets it on the table and you look at the cover. History of Equestrian Royals, Cities, and Wars. "It's important to gain knowledge about the land you reside in. Twilight has already read this book when she lived here, I believe, but you other girls should read it too." She slips it into a saddlebag and puts the saddlebag on your back.

"Why must we read the book too, Princess?" Rarity questions. "We already know about Equestria."

"Perhaps not everything," Celestia replies a bit darkly. "Anyways, I shall see you all again soon. Have a safe journey!"

Everypony stands up from where they are sitting and Luna escorts your group out of the dining room and walks down the hallway until you're back in the throne room and eventually back outside.

"Farewell, girls, I do hope you enjoyed your stay." Luna leaves you and goes back inside, closing the door after her.

You and the girls step off of the train at Ponyville and walk to Twilight's tree in silence. Once there, Twilight speaks up.

"Good work girls, we've warned the princess and done all we can. Also..." Twilight hesitates but then resumes. "Last night, I spoke with the princess in private. She told me that, although [Y/N] needs to retrieve her Golden Crown, for now, we can't confront Reptantis."

"Wait a second, Twi," Rainbow Dash interrupts. "You know I trust you, but we can't just sit around while that bug gets stronger and stronger!"

Twilight nods. "I see your point, Rainbow, but it's the orders of Princess Celestia. Reptantis has made the first move in this game, and I promise, we will get our turn, but right now, she has the upper hand. She is probably somewhere right now, just waiting for us. Also, she seems to know about us, but all we know about her is that she grew up with Celestia, Luna, and Discord, and she has tried to take over the city of Hollow Shades before but was stopped. So, before we do anything, we need to ask around about Hollow Shades and Reptantis, and also see if Discord knows anything else about this situation. Then, we can prepare for a journey to Hollow Shades to see what the fuss is all about. After that, we can play it by ear. Agreed?"

"Agreed!" Everypony says at the same time.

 _I know this chapter was only mediocre, but I promise it will go uphill from here! However, I had really wanted to put The Cup Song in a chapter, you know, to introduce the Mane 6 to human music. Oh, and for the next chapter, CMC! This is Bronygirl6729 saying goodnight, Equestria!_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Doing Some Digging

 _Hey bronies! So, that season 4 preview. Wow. I am counting down the days until the season premiere, and until then, I'm going to write fanfics like crazy to fill the hole...sniff...that can only be filled by MLP. Haha, anyways, enjoy this chapter, I had so much fun writing about the Discord's past and then the CMC (and I'm finally home!). Also...if anybody wants to really see what Reptantis looks like, enter this code on generalzoi's Pony Creator on deviantART: 5347006430660029FFC49D00131E5E500UN383023H00000051 (ignore this space it's not supposed to be her but I can't delete it) 000000CC000005107F3FCC004CB2_

Humming, you trot to Fluttershy's cottage, Fluttershy trailing behind you.

"You know, we could get there a lot faster if you didn't stop to sniff every flower," you point out.

"But [Y/N], I don't want to miss even one of these beautiful flowers." She looks up from sniffing a bright pink flower. "But I suppose I can sniff them all some other time." She finally comes up next to you and you walk together until you're at the door of her cottage. "Discord? Spike? Is anypony home?"

A disheveled Discord opens the door. "Ah, Fluttershy, [Y/N], you're back." Suddenly, a small white bunny runs under his feet, causing him to fall to the ground with a thud. "Please...do come in." You and Fluttershy step inside to see everypony's pets running amok throughout the cottage. As you look to your left, you see a tired Spike wrestling with a little alligator. You shriek as it clamps down on his foot and put your hooves in front of your eyes.

"Woah, calm down, [Y/N], he's just a baby alligator. He has no teeth, see?" You peek out from behind your hooves to see that Spike is right-instead of teeth, the alligator has tiny pink gums. Spike giggles as it continues to gum his foot. "It actually tickles more than it hurts."

"So, since everypony is home, I'll just gather up these animals and Spikester here can return them to their owners," Discord says.

"You got it, Disco," Spike says, finally managing to pry the alligator off of his foot.

As Discord snaps his fingers, all of the pets appear on red leashes tied to Spike. Spike yells as the overexcited pets drag him out the door. "Ta ta!" Discord yells after them, waving. He turns to you and Fluttershy. "So...how did the meeting with Princess Prissy-Pants go?"

Fluttershy glares at him. "Discord, what did I tell you about insulting ponies?"

Discord rolls his eyes. "It's mean and unnecessary," he says in a mock Fluttershy voice. "But seriously, that pony has no appreciation for a little bit of chaos! Not like you girls, anyway." He smiles mischievously. Before you or Fluttershy can object, he snaps his fingers and turns Fluttershy's wings into little butterflies and then turns to you.

"Help meeeee!" Fluttershy shrieks as the tiny butterflies try to lift her off the ground and fly around the cottage.

"Discord..." you say, eyeing him warily as she takes a step towards you. "Don't you dare."

"Oh, why ever not?" He smirks and takes another step. "I thought you ponies liked my little pranks. Hmm...what should I do? Turn you into a bird, maybe? Ooh, I have a better idea..." He snaps his fingers and you slowly feel your figure changing and getting taller. Your tail disappears, but your mane remains untouched. As you look down, you see that you look just like you did before you feel into Equestria. He turned you into a human again. "Woah..." he says, studying you. "You really are a weird-looking creature, and that's coming from me!" He laughs at you and Fluttershy. "This is hilarious!" Finally, Fluttershy gains control of her wings and lands, pinning them against her sides so that they can't move.

"Discord...change me back." She looks over at you for the first time and gasps. "[Y/N]! What did he do to you? You're so tall and...colorless. And what did he do to your tail? It's...it's gone!"

You sigh and give Discord a glare while he grins playfully. "This is how I looked before I came here. This is what a human looks like. But..." You turn to Discord. "Do you have any idea what the other ponies will do if I start walking around Ponyville in this form? Come on, change us back!"

"Ugh, fine, sour pusses," he groans, snapping his fingers and changing you back to a pony. When you look at Fluttershy, you see her giving her wings a few cautious flaps to find that they are back to normal. "Happy now?"

Fluttershy nods and walks up to Discord. "Yes, thank you, Discord. Now, no more messing around. We actually came here to talk to you about something important." She sits on a living room chair while Discord flops himself down on the couch. You walk over and sit on a chair next to Fluttershy's.

"Well, what is it? I've got an appointment..." Discord says, tapping an invisible watch on his arm.

"Yeah, right," you scoff, causing him to give you the death stare.

"Discord, about Reptantis, is there anything else you can share about her or the Golden Crown? We've actually made a certain discovery..." Fluttershy looks to you.

"We've discovered that it's my destiny to defeat Reptantis and claim the Golden Crown for myself, but we have no idea where she lives or anything about her weaknesses or past. We thought maybe you could tell us about her? I mean, since you grew up with her..."

Discord sighs, suddenly serious. "Oh, Repta...I never thought she could change so much. You want her story? Fine, here's her story...and mine."

 _"Lesti!" Discord yelled, looking around for his adoptive teenage sister._

 _"Inside voices, Discord." Discord whipped around to see the young white alicorn looking at him sternly. "You don't want the King and Queen to hear you yelling in the castle."_

 _"Sorry, I was just looking for you. Do you know where Repta is? She said she wanted to meet me today. I don't want to be late..."_

 _Celestia giggled. "Oh, you're going to meet Repta again? I better not find you two kissing." She made kissy noises at him and he blushed, rolling his eyes._

 _"I'm serious, Lesti, where is she?"_

 _"Um...I saw her last with her aunt and uncle in their house. She said she was going to 'your regular spot.' Not sure what that means."_

 _"Yes! We get to get out of this stinking forest! Lesti, I know it's only temporary, but I hate living in the Everfree Forest. It's just not where I belong. It's so...empty. And everything is just so boring. We need something exciting to happen!" Discord slumped down against the old castle wall._

 _"Well, don't worry Discord, Mother and Father said that we will soon move to that big town on the mountain in the middle of Equestria, and there are plenty of ponies already living there. It's called Canterlot, and did you know that that's where Mother and Father used to rule until-"_

 _"Until what, Lesti?" A dark blue filly stood behind the two, rubbing her bright blue eyes._

 _Celestia looked at her little sister sweetly. "Nothing, Lu, it's alright. I was just telling Discord about how we will soon move to the big mountain. They need a king and queen, you know." She ruffled the young filly's mane. "But isn't it a little early for you to wake up?"_

 _"No, I'm ok, I'll just go get some breakfast now." She walked off down the ancient hallways to the dining room. Once she was gone, Celestia continued._

 _"Mother and Father lived and ruled there before they were...driven out by Repta's parents, Maligno and Magistra. Now, I know you can't blame Repta for what they did, but be careful around her. She's my friend too, but I don't want her to end up like her parents, trying to enslave Equestria for their own gain. They would've succeeded too, if Father hadn't put a spell of strength on the residents of Canterlot, enough strength and magic to imprison Maligno and and Magistra. Now, we know for sure that it's safe to return, so we will soon, I promise."_

 _Discord yawns. "Bo-ring! I don't care why we're leaving, I just care that we are! Anyways, I'll see you later, Lesti! I have a mare to meet." Without another word, he zipped out the door and towards the little river at the edge of the forest where he always met Repta. He smiled as the trees begin to become less and give way to open spaces. As he looked to his left, he saw, as usual, the pure blue stream and the alicorn mare he loved. Her bright blue eyes looked at him happily as he walked up to her._

 _"Discord!" He jumped up to him, hugging him in her arms, her black mane pressed against his chest. "I knew you would be here!"_

 _He hugged her back, his eyes dancing with joy. "Oh course you did! Have you ever known me to bail on you? I would NEVER!"_

 _She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, making him blush fiercely. "I know you wouldn't. You love me. And don't try to deny it."_

 _"I-" Discord's voice wavered as Repta raised an eyebrow at him. "Ok, fine. I just don't like to say it."_

 _"And that's just fine with me, Discy." She kissed him again, this time on the lips. "Just know that I love you too." They sat together for a while, chatting and planning their future together. Discord knew she was right-he loved her more than he could ever express. And he knew that she felt the same way, which only deepened his love for her. She was the most beautiful, most sweet creature he had ever met, and he would never again meet another pony like her._

You and Fluttershy sit in silence as Discord pauses his story. You can practically feel the grief inside of his heart as he continues with the end.

"A month later, our family moved to Canterlot and we had to leave Repta behind in her small house in the forest. I was devastated. I wrote letters to her every week, and so did she, but soon, we started drifting apart, which is easy for somepony to do when you haven't seen your friend in quite a long time. About three months after we had moved to Canterlot and Mother and Father had returned to their position as King and Queen, we heard stories about Reptantis. She wasn't threatening anypony yet, but ponies were saying that she had gone mad and killed her aunt and uncle, and then cut off her own horn. I didn't want to believe it, but eventually it came to that point. A little while later, Mother and Father fell deathly ill and soon died. Celestia was the rightful heir to the throne, and by then, we were just getting out of our teen years, and Luna was in her mid-teens. So, Celestia took over the throne with Luna as her little helper princess, and I, not being of noble birth, had no place in the pony kingdom. I don't think the ponies liked me anyways. So I left for the Everfree Forest to search for Repta again." His eyes begin to tear up a bit, and he turns his head to hide it.

"It's all right," Fluttershy soothes him, grabbing his lion paw gently.

"I looked in her old house and didn't find anypony, but I didn't stop. I stayed in the forest for a few months and then I finally returned to Canterlot to search for her. When I returned, the city was in turmoil. As I had looked into the sky, I saw Celestia battling a dark red figure in the sky. It took me a while to see that...it was my Repta. She looked so different, and her horn was cut in half. Her...beautiful blue eyes...they were yellow slits, and she had a blood red streak running through her mane and tail. Her magic practically leaked out of her horn, drowning the city in black fog. She kept screaming at Celestia to hand over Hollow Shades and burning, suffocating her with her black fog. Just when I thought Repta was about to kill Celestia, Luna rushed out with the Elements of Harmony, and...before I could even say anything...they turned her into a dark red cloud, just like her body color. She was still alive, I knew it, we all knew it, she was still locked in her cursed cloud form. I-I got angry. I cast out Celestia and Luna and took the throne for myself, filling Equestria with my chaos and...well, I guess you know the rest." He hangs his head in sadness.

Fluttershy stands up, walks over to him, and embraces him. "It's all right, Discord. Thank you for telling us about this. You're a good friend, one of the best I've ever had." When she says this, you and Discord glance at each other, both of you thinking the same thing: _Does she really want to be just friends?_

"Discord...do you know where Reptantis is now?" you ask, and he shakes his head.

"I'm afraid that I don't. You kind of lose contact when you're both locked away for thousands of years." You breathe a sigh of relief when you see that he is back to his normal, sarcastic self.

"Alright, then we should go tell the girls what we found out," Fluttershy says.

You nod. "Good idea, let's go meet up at Rarity's boutique." You let Fluttershy go out first, and when you and Discord are alone for a moment, you smile warmly. "Oh, and Discord...thanks."

He returns a small smile. "Anything for you and Fluttershy."

You walk out the door and say, just loud enough for him to hear, "Or was it just for Fluttershy?" Before he can reply, you close the door and walk with Fluttershy over to Rarity's. Fluttershy sends five cardinals with notes tied to their legs to all of her friends, telling them to meet up at Carousel Boutique.

Fluttershy gently knocks on Rarity's door, so light that it's barely audible. After nopony answers, you step in front of her and give a nice, loud knock. After a second, Rarity opens the door, looking exhausted.

"Girls, oh, thank Celestia that you're here! I'm afraid that I need some help..." A loud crash sounds from inside, and you and Fluttershy walk in. Three giggling blurs zip past you.

"What the-?" You look over at three little fillies running around through the boutique.

"Girls, Fluttershy is here, and a new friend," Rarity says in a singsong voice. "They'll be watching you for a little while." She looks at you and Fluttershy desperately. "I will be forever in your debt, just please...HELP."

Before you can object, Fluttershy nods happily. "We'd be glad to help, Rarity."

Without even a goodbye, Rarity disappears in a cloud of dust. Fluttershy turns to the fillies.

"Hello, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo. How are you silly fillies doing today?"

"We're doing just great, Fluttershy!" The yellow one answers. "We have a big day of crusading ahead!"

"Well, that's good, because I brought a friend with me today. This is [Y/N]." She gestures to you with her hoof.

"Ooh, I've heard of you! You're Rarity's new friend!" The white one says cheerfully.

"And Applejack's!" The yellow one adds.

"And Rainbow Dash's!" The orange one finishes.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FRIEND MAKERS, GO!" they all yell simultaneously. You yell out as they latch onto your legs, causing you to fall. Once you're down, they all smother you with hugs and introductions.

"I'm Apple Bloom!" The yellow one yells as she jumps up and down on your stomach.

"And I'm Sweetie Bell!" The white one latches onto your left back leg as she speaks.

"And I'm Scootaloo, daredevil extraordinaire!" The orange one says lastly, looking you right in the eyes with a playful face.

"Now, now, girls...my little ponies, don't..." Fluttershy looks completely powerless in this situation. That is, until she breathes a calming sigh and speaks with a commanding tone. "Girls, please let [Y/N] up now." To your shock, the girls immediately get off of you and sit in front of Fluttershy.

"Yes, Fluttershy?" they say obediently.

You stand up and stare at them in shock. "H-how...?"

Fluttershy chuckles. "Let's just say I'm good with kids."

With the three fillies all playing quietly in the corner, you look around at all of the girls' faces (and a small dragon face).

"Thank you for coming, girls, we just made an important discovery," Fluttershy says to this, she tells everypony the story that Discord had relayed to you, not leaving out the smallest detail. As soon as she finishes, you can see the girls hanging their heads, a few of the girl's eyes are even watering at his sad story. Spike has his head resting in his hands and looks up once the story is finished.

AJ takes off her hat. "I...I never thought he went through anything like this. I feel so guilty that I judged him so quickly now." The others quietly murmur their agreement.

"Well...we asked for knowledge about her past, and now we have it," Twilight says slowly.

"I never knew Discord was in love with her that much..." Rainbow mutters regretfully.

"Did he know where she lives?" Rarity questions.

You shake your head. "No, he didn't know where she lives."

"You know...if I was Reptantis, and I hadn't seen the love of my life in thousands of years, I would live back where he used to live," Pinkie speculates coolly.

"Wait. You're saying that you think she still lives in the old castle ruins in the Everfree Forest?" Twilight asks.

"Yup. I think she still lives there to remember Discord!"

A light bulb finally goes off in Twilight's head. "And if we brought Discord with us during our attack on Reptantis..."

"We would catch her off guard!" Everypony yells at the same time.

"And we could get the Golden Crown!" you finish.

"Yeah, without that crown, that bug is totally powerless!" Rainbow Dash says excitedly.

Twilight smiles. "I think we're ready for our turn in the game."

 _Wow, I finally got to write about my villain's past (and Discord's)! Oh, and if you were wondering, Maligno and Magistra are Latin names like Reptantis. Oh, and did anybody notice that the place that Discord would always meet Reptantis was where Fluttershy's cottage is now? Well, it is... Now, here comes the fun part...paying a little visit to a certain reptilian pony. Alright bronies, Bronygirl6729 is here to say goodbye everypony!_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Your Turn

 _Alright, bronies, it is time to play offense. That's right...now is the time to attack Reptantis and get your crown back. I hope everyone enjoys this, but don't worry, this story is far from over. Far, far, from over._

"Are you sure we should do this?" Fluttershy says as the seven of you walk up to her cottage. "I just don't want to hurt Discord...I mean, he used to love this pony, and he was so heartbroken when he talked about her..."

Twilight looks at Fluttershy caringly. "I don't want to hurt Discord either, but we have to at least ask if he can help us! It may be the only way for us to succeed in obtaining that crown."

"Don't worry, sugarcube, won't force him to do anything he doesn't want to do," Applejack promises.

"Alright..." Fluttershy says hesitantly. "But I don't think everypony should go in though. Maybe just me, Twilight, and [Y/N]."

Rarity nods. "That sounds reasonable enough."

You finally see Fluttershy's simple cottage looming in the distance, the Everfree Forest in the background. Rarity, AJ, Rainbow, and Pinkie all wait near the front lawn as you follow Twilight and Fluttershy up to the wooden door. Twilight gives a formal knock on the door and a voice from inside tells you that he's coming. After a moment, a familiar mischievious draconequus opens the door.

"Ah, ponies. Quite a lot of visits for one day, don't you think? Of course, one can never get enough Discord!" He smiles slyly. "So, what can I do you for?"

Twilight keeps a serious tone. "Discord, we need to ask a favor of you."

Discord sighs irritably. "Why must you ponies always be so serious? Oh well, I suppose we can chat." He opens the door wider, inviting the three of you in. The three of you walk in the small cottage. You and Twilight sit on the two chairs next to the couch while Fluttershy sits on the couch next to Discord.

"Discord..." Twilight begins. "Fluttershy and [Y/N] have related to us your story, and we want to thank you for telling them that. But now, we need your help. We believe that Reptantis is sheltering in the old castle ruins in the Everfree Forest."

"So what do you need me for? Go ahead, steal her crown, kill her off for all I care." Discord turns away, obviously very touchy on the subject of Reptantis.

"Discord, you know it's not like that," Fluttershy soothes.

"What we need you for is a diversion," Twilight continues solemnly. "She is probably ready for the seven of us to come and bust down her door. She would be caught completely off guard if you came up to her castle."

"We have no intention of harming her, we just need to get that crown back. Hay, I didn't even want to take the crown from her, but the Golden Crown does not rightfully belong to her." You look up at the draconequus pleadingly.

Discord crosses his mismatched arms, his expression hard as the stone he used to be encased in. "So you want me to come and flirt with the pony I used to love while you guys go steal a little crown?" He stares the three of you down harshly. "Not. A. Chance."

You bite your lip in frustration. "Discord, we just-"

 _"We?_ Are you kidding me? Your friends don't want them is crown. It doesn't benefit them at all. You want this crown." He sneers at you. "You think that just because you're different and you're supposed to become some kind of alicorn princess or whatever means that you are a high and mighty treasure to be protected! You don't care about anypony that you need to use in order to help yourself. You just want to fulfill your destiny and become ruler of Equestria! But you know what? I would never want a princess like you ruling this land. You're just selfish brats, all of you!"

You flatten your ears to your head, every spiteful word he says driving you closer to losing control over your tears. You look down at your hooves as he finishes, completely disheartened.

"Discord, how dare you talk to my friend like that!" Fluttershy says, practically shaking with anger. "She did nothing to you! You're just hurt, but we can help each other." She looks up at his tall figure with sad teal eyes, but he remains hardhearted.

"You ponies can do nothing to help me. And I will not help you. Not with this."

"Discord, we don't want to force you to do anything against your will. But remember, we're your friends, and we love you." She puts her hoof on his eagle claw gently, only to have it pushed away.

"No, Fluttershy, I think you mean you love me. After everything I've told you, every horrible thing that you know love has done to me, you still love me. Well, Fluttershy, my dear, I don't love you, and I never will! So do yourself a favor and get over me!"

Fluttershy, who obviously was much more emotional than you, was already crying as finishes his talking. "I-if that's how you really feel," she gasps between sobs. Twilight attempts to put her arm around her, but she wriggles away and flies up the stairs to her room. Twilight turns to Discord, her purple eyes lit with fury.

"Come on, [Y/N], let's go. It's obvious that he's not going to help us and I think enough damage has been done." Twilight storms out the door, again leaving you and Discord alone. For a split second, your melancholy eyes meet his cold ones, and then you walk out as the cruelty of what he has just done begins to dawn on him.

Once you're outside, you see Twilight speaking to the other four girls. "He's not going to help us," she says with a shake of her head. "You know, I think we should call it a day and proceed with our plan tomorrow. It's getting late, anyways. We can meet up right here, tomorrow morning." The girls nod silently, even Pinkie Pie uncharacteristically quiet. Everypony turns to go their separate ways and you follow Twilight back to the tree. You finally reach your home to be greeted by Spike.

"So, is Disco gonna help you get the crown?" he asks optimistically.

"No, Spike, he isn't," Twilight answers glumly, walking up the stairs to her bed. You settle down in your bed next to Twilight's. Spike lies down in his small doggy-sized bed next to you and yawns sleepily before curling up to go to sleep.

You open your eyes to silence. As you look around the room, you see Spike still sleeping in bed and Twilight looking out the window blankly.

"Today's the day," she states simply, and you nod. "I guess we should get together with the girls." She stands up and trots to the door, grabbing a saddlebag on the way out and putting the Elements of Harmony inside of it. You follow her with a gold saddlebag of your own on your back. "Here, put an apple in your bag." Twilight levitates a red apple to your bag and puts one in her bag also. Then, she opens the door and walks out, followed by you. You once again walk up the long dirt road to Fluttershy's cottage, the other five girls waiting outside for you. The other four see that something is wrong, but remain quiet. As you look at Fluttershy, your heart breaks. She looks sad and tired, and she had obviously been up all night crying.

"Well, we're all here," Twilight says, feigning enthusiasm.

"Yep," Rainbow acknowledges. A brief silence follows.

"Well, what the hay are we standing here for?" Applejack says, trying to lift everypony's spirits. "Let's go squash us a bug!"

"Yeah, woohoo!" Pinkie cheers, anxious to stop with the serious business. This causes everypony to smile a little, even Fluttershy.

"AJ's right. We need to have good friendship and communication now more than ever," Twilight agrees.

"I agree," a small, quiet voice says. "What's done is done, but now we have to move on." Everypony looks at Fluttershy sympathetically, feeling terrible that her love had been crushed into a million pieces by the one she loved.

"All right then, let's hit it!" Rainbow Dash enthuses, flying around in circles above you. With that, everypony walks off past Fluttershy's backyard and into the Everfree Forest. You shudder as the trees around you begin to get darker and scarier. They look as though they were grabbing for you, ready to devour you in seconds. Not to mention the noises of animals completely foreign to you.

"All right girls, stuck together here," Twilight warns. "We don't want to run into a manticore or cockatrice alone."

Rarity squints her eyes distastefully. "I, for one, do not want to encounter any creatures of that sort at all."

"And no more poison joke!" Pinkie says. "I mean, it was kinda funny, but I hated not talking! I mean, who doesn't like talking? I could just talk and talk and talk all day long!" Everypony groans as Pinkie Pie continues to talk nonsense all the way to the ruins. But once you reach the ancient castle, the pastel pink mare stops mid-sentence.

"Y'all remember the last time we were here?" AJ looks the place up and down. Everypony but you nods.

"When I had first moved to Ponyville," Twilight remembers. "This is where we defeated Nightmare Moon."

"Oh my..." You look up at the old, crumbling remains of Discord and the princesses' home. A rickety bridge over a steep canyon stood in front of you, and beyond that was the structure itself. _It's amazing that it hasn't just crumbled into pieces yet._ The castle is on its last legs, cobwebs in every corner and plants growing up through the floor and walls. Twilight crosses the old bridge slowly and then motions for you to cross. You take a deep breath and set one hoof on the unsteady bridge, and then another. Soon enough, you're in the center of the old, swaying bridge. As you look down, you lose your breath for a moment. You're so high right now, you feel dizzy, and normally you didn't mind heights too much. Shaking, you take the last few steps and jump off of the bridge, relieved to be back on solid ground. _Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are lucky, they can just fly over it._ Finally, after all of the others have crossed, Twilight takes the lead and you enter the old ruins. It's dusty and smells like mold but you keep close and follow Twilight closely.

"Well, it looks like we have guests," a voice hisses from the shadows. You give a small gasp as Reptantis steps out from a dark corner, her dark red wings out menacingly. She looks just as scary as she did at your first encounter, except for this time, she isn't wearing her black bodysuit, allowing you to see her cutie mark-a white rose wearing a black version of the Golden Crown. _Her destiny is to corrupt the crown, but mine is to wield it. So...it must be my destiny to get the crown back and bring it to good! She has fulfilled her destiny, and now I must fulfill mine._ You take a step forward aggressively.

"All right, Reptantis, leave them out of this. This is between you and me, and I need that crown." You grit your teeth as she chuckles at you.

"All right, unicorn, I will humor you. Your friends are of no threat to me right now. But you are." She leans down and looks into your eyes hypnotically. "You know, your friends have been through a lot together, and they're very close. Have you wondered why you feel so alone? It's because they don't want you around. They wish you had never come to Equestria. In fact, if I swore that I wouldn't bother them or Equestria and just kill you, they wouldn't raise a hoof. Face it, [Y/N], your friends won't stick around for long after you've saved Equestria." You feel that, with every word she says, an ounce of you flies out the shattered windows of the castle and disappear with the wind.

Suddenly, you hear Twilight. "[Y/N], don't listen t-mmph!" Her voice is suddenly muffled by something as Reptantis leans closer to your ear.

"What's the point of having faith in your friends if all they will ever do is let you down?" Just as you feel like you're ready to give up and leave, something lands near you and shakes you out of your trance.

"No, friends don't let friends down," a deep male voice growls. Whipping your head around, you see an enraged Discord, backed up by Spike and Zecora. As you look around the room, you see your friends standing up for you, helping you, refusing to let you go. It all felt like nothing you had ever felt before, so right, so powerful. You whip around and stare nose-to-nose with Reptantis.

"You're wrong."

Suddenly, you hear a cry as the girls fall from Reptantis' magical hold. Looking at your surroundings for the first time, you see that they had been being suffocated by the black fog oozing from the evil mare's horn. She looks at you, blinded by fury.

"No, I speak truth!" Her scream echoes throughout the ruins and she turns to look at Discord. _"He_ abandoned me. When I needed him most, he wasn't there. That is why I became who I am. That is why I wanted Hollow Shades."

Discord looks at her, shocked. "City of the draconequuses...where my kind used to live."

She glares at him. "Yes, I believed if I ruled over it, I could bring back the draonequuses, I could find you..." She looked almost sad for a moment, but then it disappeared, replaced by hate. "But I was locked away! And not once did you try to unlock me, not once did you look for me!" She was screeching her words now, causing a few ponies to cover their ears.

Discord looked like he was about to cry. "Oh, Repta...I did. I searched for you everywhere. But then I took over Equestria and was encased in stone for a thousand years...we were both cast out, locked away. But it doesn't have to be that way. You can change." He holds out a lion paw to her. "We can all forgive each other." She eyes his hand with her yellow slits, looking thoughtful, and for a moment, you hope that she will agree. However, she turns cold again.

"I can only forgive you, Discord, but not anypony else. I will give you a choice, so choose wisely. You can either stay here and become enslaved to me when I take over Equestria, or you can join me and rule by my side, and then I just might consider showing a bit of mercy to your pony friends. It's your choice." A shocked silence passes over the room, and Discord pauses.

"Thank you, Repta, but no. I...I already love somepony here." He turns to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy...I-I'm sorry that I said all of those things about you. I would take it all back if I could, but not even magic can do that, so all that I can do is apologize." He sits down by her and looks up sadly. "Forgive me?"

Fluttershy smiles lovingly at the draconequus, and quickly and unexpectedly brings him into a quick kiss on the lips. "I do." Discord looks like he's about to fall over, and his face is as red as can be, but he turns back to you.

"And [Y/N]...I'm sorry for what I said to you too. You will be a great princess." You smile warmly at him, feeling like everything in the world is perfect. Suddenly, everypony gasps and you look at your leg to see a great gold light surrounding you. You feel yourself being lifted off of the ground, and as you look down, you see a bright light seeping out of Reptantis' chest. It swirls around and then enters into you, causing a Golden Crown to materialize on your head. You suddenly feel bright magic seeping through you and the old ruins are gone. Instead, you find yourself surrounded by stars, Princess Celestia standing next to you.

"Princess!" You say, completely shocked. "Where is everypony? Are they ok?"

"Yes, [Y/N], and you have done very well too. The Golden Crown has been turned back to normal, and you have accomplished much in your studies of friendship. Of course, you must send me letters on your friendship discoveries continuously, just the like the others, but now, your destiny, and Twilight's, are slowly becoming fulfilled. You have done well, and you are ready for the responsibility of being a princess."

You look up at her, afraid. "But it didn't even take that long! Don't you think we should wait a little while?"

"No, I reward my students when they prove that they are ready, which you have now done. You are ready. So enjoy your reward, and return to your friends. They need you, [Y/N], and you need them, forever and always." With these words, you are again lifted up and glow with a light so blindly bright, yet so beautiful. Once you open your eyes again, you are back where you started, but this time, as you get up, you feel a new muscle in your back. As you bend it, you find that you have wings that match Twilight's.

"Gah, alicorns are just springing up everywhere!" Discord throws his arms in the air.

"I...I can fly," you say, flapping your wings gently. You like the _swoosh_ noise that they make as they flap and smile at them, and then at your friends.

"Yeah, way to go, [Y/N]! Unicorn one second and alicorn the next!" Spike cheers, jumping up and down.

"To the ways of her evil, you did not cling, and now you've been rewarded with a new pairs of wings." Zecora smiles at you with understanding.

"[Y/N], your crown!" Fluttershy says, pointing at your head. You look up to see the Golden Crown just like the one on your flank resting on your head. Nopony except you notices Reptantis as she looks around, and seeing that she has been defeated, flies away into the sky. Rainbow Dash look at you and then follows your gaze to her dark red figure.

"Hey, stop her!" Rainbow yells, ready to fly after her.

"Let her go, Dashie," you reply coolly. "She won't be bothering us again for a while."

"Indeed, [Y/N]. Reptantis has learned her lesson for the time being." You look around to see Celestia standing there with Luna next to her. Everypony bows and then she continues. "Your Golden Crown is the working counterpart with Twilight's Element of Magic. You could say that they are sister Elements, if you wish. But you represent the spirit of faith." You look up at her in shock and gently touch your crown. "You have demonstrated complete faith in your friends to help you, even face-to-face with a great foe. And that is why we must tell you something that you were not ready to know before, but Luna and I believe you are now ready."

Luna steps forward. "I believe that Twilight questioned my sister's reasoning to make you two the inheritors of the throne since you are not related. Well...that isn't completely true."

"Huh?" You and Twilight say simultaneously.

"What Luna means is that you and Twilight are sisters," Celestia finishes. Everypony gasps at these words and Pinkie Pie cheers.

"Sister-togetherness party!" She yells.

"We're...sisters?" You ask, stupefied.

Celestia nods. "Yes, twins to be exact, fraternal twin sisters. When you two were born, Reptantis was only expecting one pony to be born, so Twilight's existence was completely unknown to her."

Twilight looks at you gratefully, tears in her eyes. "You...you left to save me." She walks up to you and wraps you in a warm hug.

You hug her back, tears filling your eyes. "You know, I've always wanted a sister." She giggles and ends the hug after a moment. "Wait..." You look at the princesses. "That means...I have a mother and father."

Celestia nods, smiling warmly. "Yes, you and Twilight share the same parents. There will be time to meet them in the future. For now, you deserve a proper celebration in Canterlot. Now the kingdom will finally have two successor princesses. I'm so proud of all of you." She looks over the entire crowd and stops at Discord. "And Discord...you supported your friends when you had a choice to go back to being a lord of chaos. You have proved that you are, without a doubt, truly reformed." She dips her head respectfully to him. "I welcome you back to Equestria as a fully-privileged civilian...little brother." She smiles at him sweetly and playfully.

He glares at her jokingly. "Don't call me little." Celestia chuckles at this and then looks to you.

"For now, you should go home and get used to living with your new wings and your new life. As of tomorrow, you are all cordially invited to attend the coronation celebration of Princess [Y/N]." Your friends all cheer, and you beam at your new title.

"Thank you, princess. And thank you, everypony!" Everypony comes in for a big group hug, even Discord, who is still attempting but failing to mask his love for his friends with irritation. For this one second, everything is perfect.

 _I am so happy that I can't even begin to explain it! Isn't that so perfect? Everybody made up and now you're an alicorn, and Twilight's sister! This was a part that I had been planning for a long time, and it just turned out so great that I want to curl up in a little happy ball and sing Winter Wrap Up while reading Fluttercord fanfics. Of course, we still have many chapters to go. I mean, Reptantis did escape, and she isn't just going to go "poof" and become good. And, of course, you still have your coronation! Isn't being a princess great!? Well, until the coronation, this is Princess Bronygirl6729!_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Coronation Takes Flight

 _It's the moment that everybody has been waiting for...your coronation! You finally meet your parents and big brother who you've never known! Pretty awesome, huh? Oh and I wanted to thank mockingjay1997 for her great suggestion that I will definitely include in my story (I only changed it a bit), and all the countless other wonderful people that have made this story possible with their kind feedback and ideas. Well, here's your coronation!_

You fiddle with your baby blue and white dress made by Rarity for your special day. You take a deep breath, still a bit nervous to show yourself as Princess [Y/N]. After a few minutes, you hear Celestia say your cue.

"And now, after returning from another world, I wish to welcome Princess [Y/N] back to Equestria, her family, and her throne." Your surrounding choir begins singing as the walk down the aisle towards the four princesses waiting for you-Luna, Celestia, Twilight, and a new princess you had never met before. She was pastel pink and had a long, multicolor mane and tail. As you look to the side of the princesses, you see Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Discord, Spike, and Zecora all smiling and supporting you. You finally walk up to stand between Celestia and Twilight, your Golden Crown glistening on top of your head. It shocks and scares you a bit as everypony stands up and then bows to you respectfully. You smile modestly and then walk out to the balcony to address the kingdom. Before you can say anything, Twilight steps forward.

"I would like to say a few words," she announces, and Celestia nods approvingly. "Not too long ago was my coronation. Back then, I didn't know that I had a sister, it didn't even cross my mind. But now that I do, I know that I could never live without her. Not only is she my sister, but she's one of my friends, and she has taught me a lot about friendship. And now that I know that we will one day be ruling together over Equestria, I couldn't be happier. Congratulations, sister. And thank you to all of my friends that helped make tis day possible." With that, she steps back and gives you a hug, which you happily return. After your hug, you take a big step forward.

"Thank you, Twilight. You're the best sister I could ever ask for." You look around the room joyously, seeing everypony's eyes watering a bit. "You know, before I came here, everything in my life felt so wrong. I had a mother, but now I have more than I could ever want. I have a mother and father, a big brother, and a sister. Not to mention my friends, who I will always have faith in, because I know that they love me and will always be there for me, and I will always be there for them. That's just how friendship works." As you finish your speech, everypony standing below stomps theirs hooves and cheers for you. After this, you walk back inside with your friends and look at them all lovingly. "You know, everything I said was true. I love you guys."

"And we love you too, [Y/N]," Fluttershy says sweetly.

"Yeah, and we're friends to the end!" Rainbow nods. You then bring everypony in for a group hug, and even Spike and Discord don't complain. You're all just a multicolored ball of friendship.

"[Y/N]!" You hear a male voice behind you say, and turn around to see a white stallion with a short blue mane looking at you with a smile. "I know that we're just now meeting, but I'm so proud of you. I'm Shining Armor, your big brother."

"Wow...I have a big brother." You contemplate this. "That's going to take some getting used to." The two of you then come in for a small hug, and then Twilight joins in.

"Hey, BBBFF!" she says happily, and he ruffles her mane.

"Hey, Twilie! Oh, [Y/N], I want you to meet my wife, Princess Cadence. We rule the Crystal Empire together." He steps aside to let the pastel pink alicorn that was standing by you at your crowning step forward. She smiles deeply at you and you find something about her utterly calming and secure.

"I've been hearing a lot about you, [Y/N]. I'm so happy to finally meet my other sister-in-law." She gives you a bright smile and you smile back.

"I'm happy to meet you too, and I'm glad that everypony could make it."

You turn around as Twilight taps on your shoulder. "Not to interrupt, but there are some other ponies over here that I think you'd like to meet." You raise your eyebrow at this, wondering who she means, but you have no time to question her as she leads you away by the hoof. She leads you out of the main hall and towards a smaller, circular room which is, to your relief, much less crowded. Twilight continues to lead you until you reach an older mare and stallion. The mare is gray with a purple-and-white mane and warm blue eyes. The stallion is blue with an even darker blue mane and intelligent golden eyes. They both look at you with shocked expressions.

"Mom, Dad, this is [Y/N]," Twilight introduces you. "[Y/N], these are my, I mean, _our_ parents." You emit a small gasp and look up at the two. The mare takes a step towards you uncertainly, slowly pushing back your [H/C] mane.

"It's her," she says after a minute. "Our baby has come back to us." She then hugs you and Twilight tightly, and your father joins in.

"I have parents." It feels so good to say that. _I have parents, and a big brother, a twin sister, and more friends than I've ever had! It can't get much better than this._

You yawn sleepily, looking around the messy main hall. Celestia had just lowered the sun and the moon was shining bright in the sky, bathing the room in white light. The hall was finally empty, your party finally over. You sigh contently and walk outside of the castle to where your friends are waiting. _What a great day. I got to become a princess and meet my family, Rainbow Dash got to hang out with Soarin, Twilight got to do her first job as a princess and create a constellation, and Discord even got a dance with Fluttershy! Not to mention all the fun that Pinkie, Rarity, AJ, Spike and Zecora had making friends and partying with the other guests._ As you walk outside, you see everypony chatting about what a great party it was. Rainbow is the first to spot you as you walk towards them.

"Hey, [Y/N]! Great party!" She flies up to you and you two hoof bump each other.

Pinkie jumps up and down and squeals, "That was superfantabulicious!"

You smile at everypony. "Thanks, guys. I'm so glad that all of you could be here."

"What's more important than a friend?" Spike points out.

"He has a point," Discord says, pulling on his tux collar awkwardly. "Now, do you think we can go home? I hate dressing formally. I mean, I will, but..."

"I agree, we should get on the train soon," Fluttershy agrees. "If, you know, that's ok with everypony."

You nod. "Sounds good to me. I'm beat." Everypony then walks off to the train station, talking and joking with each other along the way. You walk alongside them, content to just enjoy the moment and the cool night breeze. As you continue walking, you begin to dwell on the memories of when you first came to Equestria. It feels so soon, but at the same time, you feel as though you have changed much in the past few weeks.

"All aboard!" A stallion's loud voice interrupts your thoughts and you look up to see the multicolored train looming in front of you. "Next stop, Ponyville. After that, Appaloosa." You step up onto the train and take a seat next to Fluttershy. After a minute, you feel the train wheels slowly start to turn. They build up speed until you're going about forty miles per hour. You turn to look at Fluttershy.

"So, Fluttershy, you're a pegasus. What's it like to fly?"

She tilts her head thoughtfully. "Well, I'm not a very good flier..." She looks down sadly.

"Nonsense, my dear, I'm sure that you're a wonderful flier!" Discord encourages. "Why in the wide world of Equestria wouldn't you be good at flying?"

"Well, my wings just aren't very strong, and I can't fly as fast as Rainbow Dash or Twilight. Or Discord, I'm sure."

"Come on, he's right, Fluttershy!" you say, and then you get an idea. "Fluttershy, you can teach me how to fly!"

Before Fluttershy can protest, Discord says, "What a splendid idea, [Y/N]! Nothing to get a little pegasus' confidence up like teaching a princess how to fly."

Fluttershy looks at the ground. "Well...I don't know..."

"Please? I want to know how to fly so bad." You look up at her with puppy dog eyes and pout pitifully.

Fluttershy looks uncertain, but then she puffs out her chest with determination. "I'll do my best!"

"Woohoo!" you cheer, and Discord high fives you. "So, if it's good for you, we can start tomorrow." You smile when she nods.

As you and Discord laugh, you hear Fluttershy groan, "What have I gotten myself into?"

As soon as you open your eyes in the morning, you smile. _Today is the day I learn to fly._ You quickly get out of bed and trot to the door if your sister's tree.

"And where are you going?" You turn around to see Spike leaning on the wall with his arms crossed as he stares at you suspiciously.

"For your information, Fluttershy is going to teach me how to fly." As you say this, Spike bursts out laughing.

"Fluttershy? You're kidding me, right? She can barely fly herself. If you want to learn how to fly, ask Rainbow Dash or Twilight to teach you. Man, I wish Rarity was a pegasus...then she could whisk me away to a romantic rooftop dinner for two." He sighs dreamily and you roll your eyes.

"I, for one, think it's a great idea." Twilight says as she walks down the stairs. "It can be a learning experience for both Fluttershy and [Y/N]."

"Thanks, Twilight," you say. "I'm so excited that I can fly now! Not to mention that I can walk on clouds! How awesome is that?"

Twilight chuckles. "Yeah, it's pretty cool."

You smile brightly and trot out the door with a final goodbye to Twilight and Spike, once again making your way to Fluttershy's cottage. _It is a pretty nice house, and cozy too._ You knock on the wooden door and are immediately answered by an excited yellow pegasus.

"Oh, good morning, [Y/N]. Are you ready to fly? I sure am. I like flying, just not...high. We can start close to the ground, if that's ok." She smiles sweetly up at you.

You nod. "That sounds good. So, where will we practice?"

Her smile disappears. "Oh, you don't want to practice here? I should have known better...oh, I know! There's a clearing near here, we can go there!"

"Ok, let's go." You allow her to lead the way to a large, open meadow. Fluffy white clouds linger in the sky above. You grin, excited to stand on one of them. Fluttershy stops and turns around to face you.

"Alright, let's start by..." She pauses thoughtfully.

"Flying, perhaps?"

"No!" she yells, startling you. "I-I mean, not yet. First we need to...stretch! Stretch your wings like this." She slowly moves her butter-colored wings in and out from her body, and you copy her. "Stretch, and tuck. Stretch, and tuck. Now you've got it, [Y/N]. Let's do it a few more times, maybe fifty? Or, if you want to, we could do it even a hundred times!"

You close your wings and look at Fluttershy sternly. "Come on, Fluttershy. Let's actually start flying now!"

She looks at her hooves, dejected. "I'm sorry, [Y/N]...I'm just scared of..." She mumbles the last part so quietly that you can barely hear her.

"Fluttershy, what's up? You know you can tell me." Your eyes widen. "Fluttershy...you're not scared of heights, are you?"

"Well, it's not really heights as much as falling..." she whimpers.

You put your arm on her comfortingly. "Fluttershy, having fears is nothing to be ashamed of. We're all afraid of things, even Rainbow Dash. We just have to be careful not to let them take over our lives."

Fluttershy nods with a tough face. "You know what? You're right. Let's start flying! Just...slowly. Here, do what I do." She extends her wings all the way, and you do the same. Obviously nervous, Fluttershy slowly begins to flap them up and down, gaining speed as she continues , her wings pick her up off the ground and into the air. As you look down, you see your hooves leaving the ground too. Smiling with a squee, you let your wings lift your [B/C] body into the air. Fluttershy nods happily. "Now you've got it!" Slowly, you rise with Fluttershy until you're about six feet off of the ground, the clouds not far above. "Ok, ok, now, I know that you may feel a little nervous now, but don't worry, you just have to stay calm and move as little as poss-" Fluttershy is cut off as you speed past her on your new wings, laughing as the wind howls in your ears.

"This is great!" you yell excitedly as you zip back and forth between clouds.

"Now, [Y/N], it is exciting, but you must go slower. You could fall! [Y/N]!" Fluttershy's warning is drowned out by the wind as you continue flying higher and higher until the ground is far, far away and Fluttershy is only a tiny yellow dot.

"Should I...?" You pause for a moment and consider your choices, unable to hear Fluttershy yelling for you to stop and get down. "Hmm...yeah, I should." With that, you tuck in your wings like a bird and let yourself race towards the meadow head-first. The wind stings your face as you rocket towards the green grassy field. _What was Fluttershy worried about? This is great! Maybe I should've gotten Rainbow Dash to teach me..._ All of a sudden, your thoughts are interrupted by your body swerving swiftly to your left. "Huh?" You look at your right wing and see that it is faltering. It is then that you hear Fluttershy's warning.

"You're exhausting them! Your wings aren't used to being used! You're going to hurt yourself!"

You gasp as a gut-wrenching pain shoots up your right wing, causing you to involuntarily close it. You scream and try to flap your left wing enough to keep yourself from falling, but you're not strong enough. "HELP ME!" You writhe and squirm in midair as you begin falling and spinning uncontrollably. The ground is drawing closer at an unbelievably fast rate and there is nothing to stop you from impacting it. You cover your eyes with your hooves and brace for impact. All of a sudden, you stop, the sensation of small wings fluttering under you. You look down to see butterflies, hundreds of them, carrying you down to the ground and setting you down gently. As they set you down, Fluttershy lands beside you, a stern (however stern Fluttershy can be) look on her face.

"[Y/N], I told you to take it slow. Now your wings need rest and care in order to be used again."

You duck your head sadly. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy, I should've listened. I was just so excited to get flying."

She puts her hoof on your back and smiles. "That's alright, I was probably being a bit too overprotective about the falling too. I should never have let my fears get in the way of my teaching."

"Sounds like you girls learned an important lesson," a voice from behind you says. As you look around, you see Twilight and Spike walking towards you. "Seems like somepony has a letter to write. Luckily, I always carry a scroll and quill with me. Spike? Take a letter." Spike quickly whips out a red quill and long scroll. It reminds you of the scrolls from your history books at school.

"Ready when you are," Spike confirms.

You think for a moment, and then speak. "Dear Princess Celestia..."

Celestia hums as she writes to the delegates of Saddle Arabia about their upcoming visit. Suddenly, she hears the sound of a note appear and levitates it over to where she is sitting. Smiling, she begins to read it.

 _Dear Princess Celestia,_

 _This is my first letter to you about friendship, but it sure is an important lesson. Today, Fluttershy taught me how to fly. I was very excited, of course, and couldn't wait to get going. However, my excitement turned into impatience as our lesson went on. It got so bad that I decided to ignore Fluttershy's warning and try something that neither I nor my wings were ready for. I now know that I should have been grateful that Fluttershy was taking the time to train me. I should have valued her opinion instead of tossing it aside. Friends may not always agree, but we have to be patient and have trust in our friends to teach us. Wait, I almost forgot! Sorry, this is Fluttershy. [Y/N] wasn't the only pony that was in the wrong. Ever since I was a filly, I've had a terrible fear of falling. Sadly, when I was supposed to be teaching [Y/N] how to fly, I was actually just stalling so that we wouldn't have to fly. I don't blame her for getting a bit impatient with me. I've learned not to let my fears run my life, and that sometimes we have to go a little faster if we want to succeed._

 _Your faithful subjects, [Y/N] and Fluttershy_

 _Daw, wasn't that just adorable? You became a princess, learned how to fly, and wrote your first letter to the princess, all in one story! As you can see, I absolutely love using Fluttershy for my fanfics. But you know what? I think it's time for Applejack to have a chapter. Don't worry, I will give all of the Mane 6 at least one chapter to co-star with you in. Well, thanks for reading, this is Bronygirl6729, pony lover and writer alike (that's quite a dangerous combination)!_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Farmhand

 _AHHHH! One thousand views! My story has one thousand views! This is my first story, so I feel so excited that one thousand people in this world have looked at my story with their eyeballs! IT'S JUST SO GREAT! Ahem. Sorry, I just got super duper excited there. Oh, and I just want to apologize in advance...I'm back in school (ew) so the fanfics will take longer to write now. I mean, seriously, between actual school attendance and homework, they have me for about a fifth of my day, and I need sleep too. Anyways, here's that Applejack chapter I promised, if you couldn't tell by the title. Now read it...with your eyeballs..._

"Yee-haw! Get along, little doggies!" You look up from reading _History of Equestrian Royals, Cities, and Wars_ to see Applejack and a brown-and-white herding some pigs into a pen. "Y'all get in there, ya hear?" The dog barks happily as the last pig runs into the pen, and Applejack closes the gate after them. You walk up to AJ who is praising and petting the dog.

"Hey Applejack. Who is this?" You look at the dog, who yips and tries to lick you.

"Oh, this is just my herding dog, Winona. She's a good gal, ain't you, Winona?" She gives the dog a final pat on the head. "So, how y'all been doing, [Y/N]? Read any good books lately?" She looks at the one under your arm.

"Hardly. This is the one Celestia told us to read, but it's boring beyond belief. I can't even count the number of times I've fallen asleep while reading it. Most of the book is just a bunch of lists of war generals, city founders, and rulers, plus a few little facts about them. So, of course, Twilight is practically in love with this book."

Applejack chuckles. "Yeah, that Twilight sure loves her books. Me? I'm a simpler pony. I like to stick to working on the farm with my family. Yes sir, nothing is better than a long day in the apple orchard with your brother and sister." As she talks, you look at the ground sadly, remembering the long summer days back home with your human mother. Applejack seems to notice this. "You alright, sugarcube? Hmm..." Her orange face lights up. "Here's an idea! Why don't y'all come work on the farm today with me and Big Macintosh? The day is still early, and we sure would appreciate the help."

A large grin slowly spreads across your face. "Would I? I'd love to! Not to mention that I love apples."

"In that case, y'all are gonna be just fine. You know how to applebuck, right?" You stare at her blankly and she sighs."Oh. Guess not. No worries, it's not hard to do. I can show you, come on! You too, Winona!" Winona barks and follows AJ down an old dirt path to their big red barn. Behind it, hundreds of apple trees sat, their apples just waiting to be bucked down. Applejack walks up to the closest tree, Winona on her heels. You gaze up at the large tree. _It's much bigger than our apple trees back on Earth. Then again, there is no pollution here..._ "Now, just do what I do, and don't worry if you don't succeed the first time." Applejack turns around, pushes her hind legs in close to her body, and then quickly extends them in a forceful kick. As her legs come into contact with the apple tree, it shudders, causing all of the apples on it to fall to the ground and into AJ's ready bucket. All you can do is stare at her, your jaws agape in surprise. When she sees your reaction, she chuckles. "And that's why nopony messes with a farm filly."

"And...you can teach me how to do that?" you finally ask.

"Sure as I'm an Apple!" Her confidence fills you with hope, and you nod, walking over to another nearby tree.

"Well, here goes nothing!" You turn around, pull your legs in as tight as you can, and kick out with all of your strength. Once your legs hit the tree, a vibration from the impact rockets through your whole body, not unlike the feeling of banging your head against a wall. This causes you to fall flat on your face, your legs sore. You stand up and shake off the dirt on your coat, then turn around to see Applejack on her back, roaring with laughter.

"You...ok there...sugarcube?" she gasps between laughter.

You make a face. "I'm fine, now quit laughing at me!" You can't help but giggle a bit yourself, it was pretty funny now that you think about it.

AJ manages to finally calm down a not before saying anything. "Sorry, sorry. I probably should've told you, but it's just something that everypony normally knows 'round here. You don't kick the tree with all of your strength, or you'll just hurt yourself."

"Thanks for the tip," you say jokingly. "Here, let's try that again." You tuck in your legs and again, this time with a little less power, kick the apple tree. To your delight, your legs feel fine and the tree begins to tremble.

"Get ready, the apples are gonna fall!" AJ warns. You quickly grab a basket as shiny red apples begin to break off of the tree and tumble down towards the ground. Running around like a maniac with a basket on your head, you dart around the tree to catch the various apples. You smile every time you hear the _thump_ of an apple landing in your basket. Finally, the apples stop falling and you look up at the tree to see that all of its apples have been harvested.

"Yee-haw!" Applejack says, standing up on her hind legs and hitting the air with her front legs. "That was some mighty fine applebucking!"

Before you can reply, three small voices yell out behind you. "Cutie Mark Crusaders applebuckers, yay!" You jump as the three hyper fillies dart under your legs and towards an unharvested apple tree. Apple Bloom, obviously used to the hard work, kicks the tree with a surprising amount of strength for a filly. Before the apples even begin falling, Apple Bloom is under the tree with a basket to catch every apple. After she does this, the three fillies check her flank for any changes.

"Anything yet?" the yellow filly questions impatiently.

"Nope," Scootaloo confirms, shaking her head.

"Drat. Why don't you girls try? You never know, you could be applebuckers in disguise."

"Hold on a second," Applejack stops them before they can try anything else. "[Y/N] and I are trying to do some actual work over here, we need some space."

"Pretty please?" they all say simultaneously with the same puppy-dog eyes.

"Yeah, come on, AJ, they won't get in the way," you plead, mimicking their sad eyes.

Sighing irritably, Applejack answers, "Y'all have got to stop ganging up on me. It just ain't fair. Fine, crusade for your cutie marks, but don't slow us down. This field needs to be picked as quickly as ppossible to make up for the time I was gone."

"Thank you, big sis!" Apple Bloom nuzzles her big sister affectionately.

"We'll stay out of your way, we promise," Sweetie Bell says with a smile. You chuckle and continue helping Applejack as the other two fillies try their hoof at applebucking. As you watch Sweetie Bell, you note that she is lacking the strength needed to applebuck. Your theory is proved when she kicks the tree with a small, dainty kick like her sister or Fluttershy would give.

"I don't really think that applebucking is my special talent," she remarks as she looks at the apples refusing to budge for her.

"Here, let me try," Scootaloo says, stepping up to the tree. "Prepare yourselves, apples!" She also kicks the tree with too little strength, although she was much more effective than Sweetie Bell. She looks up as two or three apples fall, embarrassed. "Um...I guess it's not my talent either."

"Huh, you know, I thought you were a lot stronger, Scootaloo," Apple Bloom points out uncertainly.

Scootaloo shakes her small orange head. "Nah, this is all upper body strength, not so much with the legs...or wings, for that matter."

"Oh. Oh well. I guess we're not applebuckers." Apple Bloom pouts at the ground.

A large grin suddenly appears on Sweetie Bell's face. "We may not be applebuckers, but maybe we can be party planners for Pinkie Pie!" The other girls begin smiling like Sweetie Bell as soon as she says this.

Scootaloo looks around at all of their faces. "Then that means..."

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS PARTY PLANNERS, YAY!" They all run off in a cloud of dust towards Sugar Cube Corner. AJ shakes her head.

"Those silly fillies are always getting into trouble. Oh well. Come on, [Y/N], let's get to bucking these apples!" You smile and follow her through the long grove of apple trees, kicking the tree and catching the apples, kicking and catching, over and over on every tree. After an hour of this, you just want to fall asleep on the ground. "Alright, that's enough for today," Applejack confirms to your relief. "Big Mac was working the west field today, so he should be done soon too. Come on, wanna grab some grub?" You nod, speechless from the heat and exhaustion, not to mention how thirsty you are.

You happily sip a cold lemonade as you sit next to Applejack inside of her kitchen. Big Mac sits next to Applejack at their dining room table.

"Was there a lot to harvest in the west section, Big Mac?" AJ asks her big brother as she finishes her lemonade.

"Ee-yup," he replies simply. _Talk about a stallion of few words. I don't think he's said more than three words since he came inside._

"Anypony want some of Granny Smith's famous homemade oat cookies?" Applejack asks as she stands from the table. You and Big Mac nod hungrily. "Alrighty then, I'll be back in a jiffy!" She trots happily into the kitchen to grab some cookies. You look at Big Macintosh, attempting to start a conversation.

"So, you like being an applebucker, Big Mac?"

"Ee-yup," he answers, his eyes never leaving his lemonade. You bite your lip, determined to get a normal conversation with him.

"You know, Applejack is a really nice pony. What's your favorite thing about her? I mean, you are her brother." You sit back and prepare yourself for actual communication.

"She's a hard worker," he states.

"And that's it?" you press.

"Ee-yup." You grind your teeth together in complete frustration. _Why isn't he talking to me?! I just want a regular old conversation! Is that too much to ask for? Ugh, this is so awkward._ You take a deep breath and try again.

"So, I heard Vinyl Scratch is deejaying for another one of Rarity's fashion shows coming up soon. I love Vinyl Scratch, don't you? Her music is just so cool." You lean forward in anticipation as you wait for his answer.

"Nope. I like country." You can practically feel the steam coming out of your head. You wish you could just scream into a pillow to shake off the anger inside of you. When you came to Ponyville, you could easily get into a conversation with just about anypony. Obviously, Big Mac was going to be different.

"Hey, ya'll, I got some cookies!" Applejack walks in the room with a plate stacked high with oat cookies and sets it on the table, grabbing one cookie for herself before sitting down. "Um, [Y/N]...you ok there, sugarcube?" You look over at the orange made to see her eyeing you strangely.

"Fine. Just peachy. Nothing at all to worry about." You feel your eye twitch as you clench your face in masked frustration.

"Ok...hey, it's getting late. You should go ahead and go home soon." You stare at Applejack blankly for a moment, then shake your head to clear your thoughts.

"You're right. I-I should get going. See you later." You stand up and walk to the door, the sun already beginning to set.

As you walk out, you barely hear Applejack say to her brother, "Did you notice anything different about [Y/N]? She seemed kind of...twitchy."

"Nope," Big Macintosh replies as you close the door and walk home.

"[Y/N]? Where are you? Did you go to bed already?" You turn over in bed to see Twilight walking up the stairs, only to stop as soon as she sees you. "[Y/N]...what happened?"

You look at her, a faked smile flastered across your [B/C] face. "And what do you mean by that, Twilight? I'm great as ever. Happy happy happy." You slowly rock back and forth, most of your mind lost in thought. _Well, if he doesn't like Vinyl he might not like fashion, because Vinyl is playing at a fashion show. And if he doesn't like fashion, he probably doesn't like girls, because girls like fashion. And if he doesn't like girls, that means he doesn't like me because I'm a girl! Why doesn't he? Everypony else seems to like me. What's wrong with me? Princess Celestia wants me to befriend everypony in Ponyville, and Big Mac lives in Ponyville! What if she gets mad at me? What if she sends me back to the human world?!_

"[Y/N]!" Twilight's voice pulls you back into reality where you are now rapidly rocking back and forth in a tight ball on your bed. "[Y/N], what is really going on? I can tell that something is happened, so don't try to make up some story." She looks down at you with stern purple eyes and you flop your head down on your hooves, exasperated. Twilight puts her hoof on your shoulder sweetly. "Come on, you can tell me." You look up at her sadly and then sigh.

"Well, you know how Princess Celestia wants me to make friends with the ponies in Ponyville?" Twilight nods. "Well, I might be having trouble making friends with Big Mac..."

Twilight tilts her head in confusion. "What do you mean by 'having trouble?'"

"Well, I like talking to ponies, it's just how I start friendships. But Big Mac just doesn't seem to want to talk. I asked him questions and talked about his family, and I thought he would respond with more than one syllable! I just feel like something's wrong with me so that he doesn't want to talk to me..."

Your sister smiles warmly at you. "Sis, they is nothing wrong with you that would stop you from making friends. Sometimes, you just have to go about it differently with different ponies."

You look up at her. "B-but Celestia wanted me to become friends with everypony..."

"And you can be friends with everypony. Here, I have an idea! Why don't you go talk to Applejack about it tomorrow? He is her brother, she probably knows what he likes. The key to becoming friends with some pony is to spend time doing things that you both like together. If you can do that, you can be friends."

Blinking, you realize that she's right. "You know what? I think I will talk to AJ. Thanks, sis." You hug her tightly, which she returns.

"Howdy, [Y/N]!" Applejack calls out to you as you walk towards where she's applebucking in her orchard. "What can I do for y'all?" He turns around to face you and pushes her hat up farther on her head.

You sigh to calm yourself. "Applejack, do you remember when I was acting weird yesterday?" She nods. "Well...I'm sorry, but it's because of your brother."

"My brother? What in tarnation did he do?" She grimaced.

"No, no, he didn't do anything. Actually..." You hang your head. "It was my fault. I was overreacting." You look up to meet her eyes. "You see, I know that I'm supposed to make friends with everypony in Ponyville, and so I got a little crazy when I wasn't able to befriend Big Mac. I thought something was wrong with me, but after talking to Twilight, it's obvious that I just need to try to befriend some ponies differently than others. So, you tell me...what's something your brother likes to do that we can all do together?" You look up at her hopefully, but AJ's gaze is focused on something behind you. You turn around to see the red stallion standing there over you. Your face drains of color. "I-I..."

He looks at you questioningly. "Ya'know, just because we got different interests doesn't mean we can't be friends. Sure, I'm a stallion of few words, but if it's alright with you, I'd like to hang out sometime."

As soon as he finishes talking, you breathe a deep sigh of relief. "You don't even know how much I wanted you to say that. Yes, that would be fun, and Applejack could come too. But first, I have a letter to write. So...maybe this weekend?"

"Ee-yup," he confirms. You and Applejack start laughing before you say goodbye and walk home. As you enter the tree door, you see Twilight with her muzzle in a book, Spike lying down on the floor next to her desk.

Your sister looks up from her book as you walk in. "You're looking very perky. Is it safe to guess that the chat went well?"

You smile. "Better than I expected. You were right, Twilight, I just needed to try a different approach. It turns out Big Mac wasn't being unfriendly at all. In fact, I think I have a letter to write."

"You're getting good at this," Twilight chuckles. "Soon enough, you'll be an expert on friendship too!"

Turning to the purple dragon on the floor, you say, "Spike? Come on, stop being lazy, we need to write a letter."

He groans and turns over to glare at you. "Fine. But let's make it quick, I want to go back to bed." He slowly stands up and grabs a scroll and quill. "Ready."

"You're not going back to bed," Twilight grumbles.

"Dear Princess Celestia..." you begin.

"I've already given you my answer, I do not want to begin an exchange student program with the Griffon Kingdom," Princess Celestia tells a guard sternly, who nods and leaves the throne room.

Luna looks at her sister with a slight frown. "Must you keep refusing the griffons, sister?"

Celestia smiles at her sister. "Luna, I do not want to start a fight with the their kingdom, but I feel that the griffons have a bad effect on our subjects. Perhaps I will consider it if the griffons can prove that they are changed."

"You should not generalize a whole race like that, Celestia." Luna looks off to the side as a letter suddenly materializes in front of them. "Ah, a letter. Let's see, what is happening in Ponyville now..."

 _Dear Princess Celestia,_

 _I'm happy to report to you that, as your newest princess, I am still learning many new things about friendship. Recently, I began helping Applejack on her farm. I can confidently say that I am very good friends with her, but I wasn't able to say the same about her brother, Big Macintosh. I wanted to be his friend, so I tried to befriend him quickly by talking, only to find that we have completely different interests. Instead of embracing our differences, I began to think that something was wrong with me that was stopping us from becoming friends. If only I had known how wrong I was! Friendship may be magic, but it doesn't just appear like magic. Friendship can be gained in different ways and in its own time. Also, I've learned that even two ponies are as different as the sun and moon can become good friends._

 _Your faithful subject,_

 _[Y/N]_

 _Well, here's your Applejack chapter. Next up...wait, I won't tell you! Tee-hee, I'm so mean. But I put a small hint about it somewhere in the middle of this chapter. I promise it'll be good, though. Oh, and I am in no way trying to ship you with Big Mac, you guys are just friends. If you want ReaderXMac romance, well...it's not here. Sorry! Anyways, this is Bronygirl6729 saying...I'm actually really tired. Goodnight!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter Nine: Fashion Victims_

 _Well, it's finally here! I'm so sorry this took so long, I've been of having a Once Upon a Time season 2 marathon on Netflix. Heh, that's a fun word. Marathon...mare...a...thon...I could totally incorporate that into Crossing Worlds. Anyways, see you later and enjoy!_

 _You yawn softly, slowly walking over to the small tree balcony. Your head feels heavy, but you open the double doors and stick your head outside anyways and look out at Ponyville, you give a small gasp. The trees arenow different shades of yellow, orange, and red. You've seen the leaves change before, but never on Earth was it so beautiful, so colorful._

 _"It's very pretty, isn't it?" Twilight walks up behind you and you walk farther out onto the balcony to make room. Your jaws are still hanging open in awe as a crisp fall breeze flows through your mane. Twilight smiles at you. "If you like this, you're going to love winter in Equestria." Suddenly, Twilight gasps and looks at you in a panic. "Rarity's Fall Fashion Show! Oh Celestia, I almost forgot...she wants me to model a new dress, but the princesses need me to come to Canterlot to greet the royal visitors from the Griffon Kingdom. Oh, Rarity will kill me..." She bites her lip in frustration and angst._

 _You tilt your head thoughtfully. "Well, do you think that she would let me fill in for you? After all, I'm a member of the group now and she's made dresses for me before." As you finish speaking, your sister's eyes dart towards the ground uncertainly._

 _"I...I don't know...I mean, it's fine by me, but you would have to ask Rarity, it's her show." You smile and do a hoof pump._

 _"Yes! I'll go see her right now!" You trot back inside happily. "She will so totally let me do this!"_

 _"No, no, no, no! I simply cannot let you take Twilight's place, [Y/N]!" Rarity is busy grabbing pins from a pin cushion and sticking them into Pinkie's dress for the show. Meanwhile, Pinkie shuffles around as Rarity fits the dress perfectly, obviously anxious to move around again._

 _Your ears droop sadly. "But, Rarity..."_

 _"But nothing! I apologize, but I cannot allow it. Now, go on! I need concentration if I want to get Pinkie's dress just right." As you look up at Pinkie, you see her physically shaking with the urge to talk. Rarity looks at her disapprovingly. "Pinkie Pie, not a word, or your entire dress could end up lopsided." Pinkie's lips quiver and she emits a small squeaking noise, but remains quiet for the most part._

 _You sigh and walk outside, your [B/C] ears still flat against your head. "This sucks," you mutter, kicking a small stone as you walk the short distance home. Once you get to the hollow tree, you open the wooden door to find Twilight anxiously adjusting her schedule for October._

 _"Well, you were-"_

 _"Hush! No talking!" your sister interrupts, not looking up from her planning. You tap your hoof impatiently as she makes all of the needed adjustments. She finally looks back up at you, slightly irritated. "Now, what is it you wanted to talk about again?" Before you can speak, Spike walks downstairs with a bowl of popcorn and looks you up and down._

 _"Well, you don't look as happy as when you left," he comments, winning an annoyed glance from you._

 _"I said, it looks like you were right, Twi. She doesn't want me to be in her show." Your frustration turns to sadness when you say this. With a sigh, you slump down against the wall. Spike comes up and pats you on the back consolingly._

 _"Don't be sad, [Y/N]. I'm sure Rarity has a perfectly good reason for not wanting you in her show. I mean, it probably has nothing to do with the fact that you're still new and it couldn't be that you're not cool enough or pretty enough or-" Before he can continue, Twilight lifts him up by the tail with her magic._

 _"I think you've said enough, Spike," she says, putting him down next to her. "He is right about one thing though: she probably has a legitimate reason for her decision. I mean, it is her show, maybe you just shouldn't question it."_

 _You look at your sister questioningly. "But everypony else is in it. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, even you were going to be in it!"_

 _"Don't forget the dress Rarity that made for herself," Spike adds, causing Twilight to kick him away. You grind your teeth, getting more annoyed by the second._

 _"Don't listen to him, [Y/N]. Everything will be fine, I know it." She smiles sweetly at you._

 _You look up at her, your face expressionless. Suddenly, the corners of your mouth slowly rise to form a smile. "You know it?"_

 _"Th-that's not what I meant." Twilight takes a step back, her left eye twitching slightly._

 _"You're lying, Twilight," you say, standing up and taking a step towards her. She steps back again and you continue advancing until Twilight is pushed up against the wall and you are nose-to-nose with her. You squint your eyes at her and she grins nervously. "What is going on? Tell. Me." Twilight's eyes dart from side to side, refusing to meet yours. All of a sudden, she ducks down under you and bolts up the stairs. With a loud yell, you run after her. Frantic, your sister scrambles under the bed in an attempt to loose you. "Oh, no you don't!" you snarl, grabbing her by the haunches and pulling her out._

 _"Let go! Let go!" she yells, feebly swatting at you with her hooves. You dodge her easily and pin her down with her hooves over her head._

 _"I will, if you tell me why Rarity isn't letting you join her fashion show." You grimace as she quickly shakes her head no. "Fine. Then you leave me no choice. One way or another, you will tell me!"_

 _"Never!" As soon as she says this, you let go of her front legs and dig your hooves into her sides, causing her to automatically burst out laughing. "St-stop ittttt!" Twilight thrashes around wildly._

 _"Not until you tell me!"_

 _Between laughs, Twilight makes an attempt to glare relentlessly at you. "I won't!" She swiftly pulls her now free hoof back and swings it at you, hitting you with a surprising amount of force. As it comes into contact with your face, you go reeling backwards and Twilight stands up defensively. You shake your head painfully and your sister gasps, her expression a mixture of guilt and fear. "Oh my gosh, I'm so so so sorry! I didn't mean to!" She takes a step back, biting her lip._

 _"What?" you ask groggily. "What are you talking about?" Suddenly anxious, you turn your head to look at your reflection in Twilight's bedroom mirror and gasp. Your left eye is swollen and bruised._

 _"I-I'm sorry, [Y/N], I didn't even know I could hurt you..." Twilight whimpers guiltily. Glancing from her to your reflection, you sigh._

 _"It's fine. You know what? If it's really that important, you don't have to tell me." Twilight gives you a relieved smile._

 _"Oh, thank you! I'm glad you've come to your senses. Here, let me get you an ice pack for that eye of yours." She leaves you upstairs and eventually completely disappears downstairs. After she's gone, a sly smile spreads across your face._

 _"Yes, you don't have to tell me why I can't be in the show because now, nopony will be in the show." Looking to where she disappeared, you give an aggressive snort. "Because if I can't have it, no...pony...can!"_

 _You look out your window with an evil grin as the sun rises. Today is the day. Now everypony can see how amazing and generous Rarity really is. You rub your hooves together evilly and chuckle as you go over the plan in your mind again. You turn around to see your alicorn sister stirring in bed and so you quietly tiptoe back to your bed and slip under the covers. As if on cue, she then sits up in bed and smiles._

 _"[Y/N], today's the day!" You pretend to wake up and get out of bed, nodding. "Your eye looks like it's almost completely healed too. Are you sure that you still want to come to the show? I mean, you really don't have to if you dont want to."_

 _You stretch and look up at her, feigning complete innocence. "Oh, I wouldn't miss this for the world." Twilight grins and trots downstairs. Once you're alone with only Spike, you quietly shake him awake. "Spike? Spike!" Grumbling, he turns over and opens his large green slits and looks at you._

 _"You should know not to wake a sleeping dragon, [Y/N]," he mumbles._

 _"Never mind that. So...did you get what I need?" You look at him anxiously._

 _"Well, that depends." He sits up as slowly as possible, acting as though he has all the time in the world. He finally makes eye contact. "Do you got the goods?" Rolling your eyes, you toss the bag of jewels into his claw. Eyeing you suspiciously, he takes one out and inspects it carefully. After a moment, he puts it back in the small sack, obviously pleased with your payment._

 _"All right, I held my end of the bargain. Now give me what I need." You tap your hoof impatiently as the young dragon pulls about ten buckets of red paint out from under Twilight's bed. Smiling, you pick them up one-by-one and take them downstairs to your sister's underground science room discreetly. Twilight is, to your delight, is busy in the other room. Before she can appear, you grab one of her large wooden bowls and pour the paint into it. Luckily, the bowl is wide enough to hold all of the paint. Suddenly, you hear hoofsteps coming down the hallway._

 _"[Y/N]? Where are you?" a familiar voice calls. "I made breakfast!" Looking around the room frantically, you grab a white tarp to drape over the bowl. As your sister walks in, you plaster a fake innocent smile on your face. "What, did you think that you could skip breakfast after I made it special?" She stops and looks at you oddly. "Um...are you ok, sis?"_

 _"Yep, I'm doing just great." You wrap your arm around her shoulders tightly and guide her out the door. "Why don't we just go try some of that yummy breakfast you made? I'm sure it will be great!" Twilight wiggles out your grasp and looks at you hesitantly. You hold your breath as she pauses._

 _"Well, ok, eager beaver. Let's go." You breathe a sigh of relief as she leads you back upstairs, blissfully unaware of the paint-filled bowl. As you make your way into the dining room, she stops again and meets your [E/C] eyes. "Hey, [Y/N]...what were you doing in my science room?"_

 _Your breath stops and your heart speeds up. Smiling guiltily, you say the only thing you can think of. "Doing what where?"_

 _Twilight looks at you strangely. "What?"_

 _"What?" you reply quickly._

 _"O-kayyy. Here, Spike has already set the table, and the muffins are cooling, so we can start with the grain." Spike, a sly grin on his face, pulls out a chair for you. The mischievous look in his green eyes is practically screaming, I know what you did. You return his look with a glare that warns, If you tell anypony, I will get you back, and you will not like it. Meanwhile, Twilight looks back and forth between both of you with a confused look. "Is there something going on here that I should know about? Spike?" The purple dragon looks up at her sheepishly._

 _"What, me and sweet little [Y/N] here?" He wraps his arm over your shoulder innocently. "Why, I have no clue where you would get a crazy idea like that." As if it his little spectacle wasn't bad enough, his uncontrollable laughter after he finishes speaking makes it more than obvious that he's lying. But before Twilight could question you and Spike, the kitchen timer starts ringing._

 _"Oh, the muffins!" Twilight yells, jumping up and racing into the kitchen. Meanwhile, Spike takes a seat across from you, his eyes never leaving yours._

 _"So...where did you hide it?" he asks._

 _"Shut up, Spike!" you practically hiss under your breath._

 _The dragon continues as though you hadn't said a word. "I mean, it's not like ten whole buckets of paint are easy to hide, so I'm just wondering how you did it."_

 _"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" You feel your anger boil against him, although you know that you could never act upon it._

 _"Why not, [Y/N]?" He looks up at you smugly. "Got something to hide? You're not trying to get...revenge, are you? I know that you were taught better than that." He wiggles his finger at you teasingly._

 _"Don't get cocky," you growl through gritted teeth. Every small action he does just pushes your buttons more and more. "I'm not getting revenge, either, I'm just getting rid of a problematic situation. Besides, what would everypony else think if Rarity put all of her friends in the fashion show but me? What kind of princess would I look like? An antisocial one, that's for sure."_

 _Spike holds up his hands, a grin still stuck to his face. "Hey, what you do with the product after I sell it to you is your business, not mine."_

 _Yeah, right," you scoff quietly as Twilight walks out of the kitchen while balancing a hot plate of muffins on her back._

 _"Spike, help me out here!" Twilight yells as she struggles to keep the muffins from falling down onto the floor. Spike hurries over to help her set them gently on the table. As soon as the plate is safely on the table, the baby dragon burps and a note appears out of thin air. Your sister quickly levitates the note over to her and reads through it. After she finishes, she looks at you with a big smile. "Great news, it looks like the griffons won't be coming to Equestria after all...weird, I thought they were sending over exchange students. But now I can go to the fashion show with you, [Y/N]!"_

 _"What, you're not even going to try to get back into the show?" Spike asks._

 _Twilight shakes her head. "No, I told Rarity I couldn't make it, and I don't want to intrude. Don't worry, I'm sure that she's completely prepared to go on without me." As she speaks, you eat a muffin while deep in thought._

 _"Hey, Twi, do you think you could teach me a cloaking spell? I've been trying but I can't seem to get it just right." You blink sweetly at her._

 _"Sure, I have just what you need in this book that I've been studying..." She grabs a muffin and gulps it down before leading you into the library. After a moment of searching, she grabs a marked book from one of the many shelves. "Here, this has a good spell for cloaking on page twenty-one. If you need any help, I'll just be in the kitchen." Unsuspecting, she trots out of the room and you rush over to the book, opening it to page twenty-one. Sure enough, the page contains the exact spell you need. Grabbing a quill, you take it over to the book and set it down while skimming the instructions._

 _"Let's give this a try," you murmur, focusing your magic on the quill. To your excitement, the top of the quill begins to vanish into thin air until it has completely disappeared. Curious, you tap the area where the quill was and feel a tickly material. It's still here, we just can't see it. Perfect! I couldn't have asked for a better spell. Smiling, you finish reading the page._

 _Cloaking/Invisibility Spell_

 _Description: The spell developed by Starswirl the Bearded after the days of Discord's rule. This spell is unstable but can be utilized by any unicorn if necessary. After this spell is cast upon a single item, it will remain hidden from the naked eye for exactly one hour. After the time period expires, the item could become seeable but non-solid for up to ten minutes (meaning that the item could seem to have taken back its natural form but would actually behave like a gas should it come into contact with anything)._

 _"Hmm. Simple enough." You close the book and walk down to the science room. You breathe a sigh of relief as you see that the paint bowl hasn't been touched since you were with it. You quietly pull the white tarp off of it and cast the cloaking spell. You grin as the bowl disappears. Testing the spell, you levitate the invisible bowl off of the ground and carry it carefully upstairs._

 _"Ready to go, [Y/N]? The show will be starting soon," Twilight asks after about fifteen minutes, opening the door for you._

 _"Yeah, let's go." You trot outside and Twilight brings up the rear, while Spike stands in the doorway, waving you off._

 _"You're not coming, Spike?" your sister asks, turning to glance at him._

 _"Nah, I'm gonna pass. But don't worry, I'm sure that it will go just swimmingly." He shoots a small smile at you as he says this._

 _"Well, ok. Make sure that the books in the far right corner are in alphabetical order by the time we're home." The purple alicorn smiles and turns around to follow you to the show. You continue to lead, still holding the paint bowl up with your magic. "Um, [Y/N]?" You jump at your sister's voice._

 _"What is it?"_

 _"What are you doing? Why is your horn glowing?" You suddenly lose your breath and look up to see a pink aura surrounding your [B/C] horn as you continue to levitate the paint bowl._

 _"Um..." You frantically search for an idea as to why you are obviously using magic. "I-I...allergies." You do a mental facehoof. Allergies? Seriously? I am such an idiot..._

 _"Allergies?" Twilight questions, confused._

 _"Um, yeah. You see, I'm keeping all of the pollen away from me with this containment spell I found." You plaster on a fake smile with a squee._

 _"Huh. Can't say I've ever heard of allergies, but all right."_

 _"It's a human thing," you say quickly._

 _"But-"_

 _"Oh, look, we're here!" you interrupt before Twilight can ask any more questions. In the town square of Ponyville, a large stage with a runway is set up. It's decorated all over with fall colors and fake leaves. A large red curtain covers the backstage and catwalk area where you can hear your other friends talking nervously and getting dressed. You and Twilight are some of the first ponies to arrive and take a seat in the very front row. Concentrating, you feel where the paint bowl is with your magic and position it perfectly over the stage, where it can still be dumped on the stage but will be hidden by the curtain when the spell wears off. Smiling, you settle back into your seat as more ponies begin to pour in._

 _A loud scratch on a disk catches your attention. Everypony turns to look at Vinyl Scratch in her deejay booth. She nods at the technical pony and he shines a spotlight at the center of the stage. Upbeat techno music begins and Rainbow Dash flies out wearing a beautiful dress. It's a light blue mid-length dress with a white hem on the ends. With a daring look on her face, she struts down the runway and strikes a fierce pose at the end. After pictures are taken she walks back but doesn't go backstage. Instead, she stands right under the paint bowl that you hid from everypony's view._

 _"Rarity has really outdone herself," Twilight whispers. You ignore her. The music suddenly changes to a remix of a lullaby. Fluttershy then shyly pokes her head out and walks down the runway. She is wearing a white lace dress with a beautiful white crown to go with it. Her mane and tail are curled and she does look pretty. As she reaches the end of the catwalk, she ducks her head and blinks innocently._

 _"Woohoo! Go Fluttershy!" You immediately recognize the cheerer as Discord and roll your eyes with a smile. A sudden pang then shoots through your head and horn. I won't be able to hold this paint bowl much longer._

 _By this time, Fluttershy is standing by Rainbow and the music has changed to a techno-fied version of a banjo song. Applejack steps out holding a rope in her mouth stylishly. She has her mane and tail down and brushed for once and a pretty yellow and white country-style dress on. She has a white cowboy hat on for a change and white cowboy boots to match. As she reaches the end of the runway, she twirls and whips the rope, then turns around and walks back to stand next to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy._

 _Now, the music changes back to its regular fun beat and Pinkie Pie bounces out, a huge smile on her face. Her mane and tail are tied up in a high ponytail and her dress is every shade of pink you could think of, plus it has a black trim for good balance. The chest area is a light, soft pink with black edges, while the rest of the dress bleeds in to a deeper pink with black fabric creeping farther up the sides in the back. Pinkie reaches the end of the runway and gives one of her famous smiles, then walks back to Rainbow, Fluttershy, and AJ._

 _"Go girls! Woohoo!" Twilight cheers and claps as everypony onstage takes a bow. Next, Rarity steps onstage with a large smile on her face. She is wearing a long black and red dress with sparkly black heels. As she bows, another extreme pain shoots through your head like a migraine that won't go away. You look up at where the paint bowl would be apprehensively. Come on, just appear already! Suddenly, as everypony is waving and taking one final bow onstage, the paint bowl appears._

 _"Yes!" you shout, glad to be able to finally let it drop. As it falls, time feels like it begins to slow down, and for the first time, you actually have a moment to look at your friends as the red paints tumbles towards them. Fluttershy is smiling shyly and waving, Pinkie Pie is bouncing excitedly and waving at the cameras with a huge smile, Applejack is pushing her hat up and waving at the crowd happily, Rainbow Dash is striking a cool pose and saluting everypony, and Rarity...she looks proud, and happy. She is waving at the crowd and her eyes are even beginning to tear up in joy. It's now that you suddenly can't breathe as you realize what you're doing. No, no, no, no! What the heck was I thinking? I'm such a freaking idiot! I have to stop this NOW. You look up and see the paint bowl hurtling towards your unsuspecting friends from above._

 _"No," you say quietly, standing up. As it gets closer to them, you begin running towards them and yelling louder. "No, no, no, no, no!" You jump onstage quickly and push your friends out of the way as the paint bowl's red paint begins to fall out the side and come right at you. You brace yourself for extreme embarrassment as the paint gets closer and closer until it's merely an inch from your head. You close your eyes and hold your breath as...nothing happens. You open one eye to see the paint pass right through you and the stage floor, followed closely by the bowl. You gulp as you remember the book's words: After the time period expires, the item could become seeable but non-solid for up to ten minutes. As you look at your friends, they give you perplexed and somewhat upset faces. You don't dare look at Twilight. As you continue to stand onstage in shock, the audience begins laughing, and you know that they're laughing at you, not with you._

 _"It was a special effect, princess!" somepony yells mockingly, and your ears flatten to your head. Eyes beginning to water, you realize what you just tried to do. Before anypony can do anything, you quickly use a teleportation spell that Twilight had taught you and teleport home. As the stage disappears and is replaced with the tree library that you live in, you let your tears begin falling and collapse on your bed. I'm a terrible friend. The other girls didn't do anything to deserve to be embarrassed. Not even Rarity did anything that could deserve her show to be ruined like that. I do though. I deserved that. I'm glad it was me and not them. Oh, they'll probably hate me now. Maybe I wasn't ready to be a princess after all..._

 _"[Y/N], what is the meaning of this?" You whip your head around to see your sister standing over you with a stern face, which softens as she sees you. "Hey, why are you crying?" She lies down on the bed next to you._

 _"Go away, I don't deserve a great sister like you, or friends like the other girls." You wipe your eyes and bury your face in your pillow._

 _"[Y/N], Spike told me everything when I teleported here. You didn't have to get revenge on Rarity for not putting you in the fashion show."_

 _You look up at her. "I know, Twilight, I'm so sorry, I wasn't even thinking, I just was upset that my other friends were in the show and I wasn't, so I wanted to ruin the show for everypony else, so I planned to dump red paint on the girls at the end of the show. But then, at the last minute, I could really see what I was doing. I saw how happy my friends were, and how proud Rarity was, and...I just couldn't mess things up for them. But the spell, the cloaking spell that I had used to get the bowl full of paint here, it had a catch. After the bowl appeared, it would just pass through anything. So, in the end, I just ended up embarrassing myself."_

 _"Oh, sis..." Twilight puts her hoof on yours comfortingly. "You did do one good thing though. You felt bad and were ready to embarrass yourself in order to help your friends. The important thing after making a mistake is feeling bad that you did it and fixing it. You feel bad, so now you just need to fix it."_

 _"No need, Twilight." A white unicorn steps out from the shadows . "I already heard everything." Rarity walks over to you, and you duck your head. "[Y/N], you don't have to be afraid of me. I forgive you."_

 _You look up at her, surprised. "You do?"_

 _She smiles. "Of course I do, darling. You should've seen the thing I've done before just so that I could get more social connections in Canterlot. So yes, I can forgive you for this, and the other girls agree with me. Oh, and the reason that I didn't want you to be in the Fall Fashion Show was because I recently made a brand new line of dresses just for you." Your jaws fall open and Rarity continues. "It was in honor of your recent coronation, and I was going to have a show where it would only be you modeling the dresses. I just didn't want anypony to feel left out, you see."_

 _"Oh, Rarity...I'm so sorry!" You give her a big hug, which she returns._

 _"It's all right, but I think you have a letter to write." You turn around to see Spike standing behind you, ready to write._

 _"Hey, [Y/N]...I just wanted to apologize for teasing you earlier." He smiles bashfully and you give him a small hug._

 _"It's ok, Spike. Now, let's write this letter. Dear Princess Celestia..."_

 _Princess Celestia looks over her letter to the griffons and sighs. "I just hope that the griffons can end their new civil war soon, because until then, Equestria will accept absolutely no exchange students." A letter suddenly appears in front of her. "Well, let's see what's happening in Ponyville." She opens the scroll and reads its contents._

 _Dear Princess Celestia,_

 _Today I learned an important lesson, maybe one of the most important ones that I'll ever learn. When a friend doesn't let you join in on something, they usually will have a good reason. Sadly, I didn't believe this, so first, I tried to find out what the reason was, but when that failed, I made a terrible decision. Instead of accepting my friend's decision, I tried to sabotage the event for everypony else, but at the last second, I realized that I couldn't do that to my friends and embarrassed myself to protect them. But, in reality, I could've saved myself the humiliation by just being in subjection to my friend's decision. Next time, I will abstain from taking revenge on ponies, even if she didn't have a reason to not include me._

 _Your subject, [Y/N]_

 _Ok, this is literally the longest chapter I've ever written by a long shot. But, hey, I hope it was worth the wait. I can really see Spike taking the annoying little brother position with you, and I think he's pretty fun to use. Well, I hope you enjoyed! This is and will always be Bronygirl6729!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter Nine: Fashion Victims_

 _Well, it's finally here! I'm so sorry this took so long, I've been of having a Once Upon a Time season 2 marathon on Netflix. Heh, that's a fun word. Marathon...mare...a...thon...I could totally incorporate that into Crossing Worlds. Anyways, see you later and enjoy!_

 _You yawn softly, slowly walking over to the small tree balcony. Your head feels heavy, but you open the double doors and stick your head outside anyways and look out at Ponyville, you give a small gasp. The trees arenow different shades of yellow, orange, and red. You've seen the leaves change before, but never on Earth was it so beautiful, so colorful._

 _"It's very pretty, isn't it?" Twilight walks up behind you and you walk farther out onto the balcony to make room. Your jaws are still hanging open in awe as a crisp fall breeze flows through your mane. Twilight smiles at you. "If you like this, you're going to love winter in Equestria." Suddenly, Twilight gasps and looks at you in a panic. "Rarity's Fall Fashion Show! Oh Celestia, I almost forgot...she wants me to model a new dress, but the princesses need me to come to Canterlot to greet the royal visitors from the Griffon Kingdom. Oh, Rarity will kill me..." She bites her lip in frustration and angst._

 _You tilt your head thoughtfully. "Well, do you think that she would let me fill in for you? After all, I'm a member of the group now and she's made dresses for me before." As you finish speaking, your sister's eyes dart towards the ground uncertainly._

 _"I...I don't know...I mean, it's fine by me, but you would have to ask Rarity, it's her show." You smile and do a hoof pump._

 _"Yes! I'll go see her right now!" You trot back inside happily. "She will so totally let me do this!"_

 _"No, no, no, no! I simply cannot let you take Twilight's place, [Y/N]!" Rarity is busy grabbing pins from a pin cushion and sticking them into Pinkie's dress for the show. Meanwhile, Pinkie shuffles around as Rarity fits the dress perfectly, obviously anxious to move around again._

 _Your ears droop sadly. "But, Rarity..."_

 _"But nothing! I apologize, but I cannot allow it. Now, go on! I need concentration if I want to get Pinkie's dress just right." As you look up at Pinkie, you see her physically shaking with the urge to talk. Rarity looks at her disapprovingly. "Pinkie Pie, not a word, or your entire dress could end up lopsided." Pinkie's lips quiver and she emits a small squeaking noise, but remains quiet for the most part._

 _You sigh and walk outside, your [B/C] ears still flat against your head. "This sucks," you mutter, kicking a small stone as you walk the short distance home. Once you get to the hollow tree, you open the wooden door to find Twilight anxiously adjusting her schedule for October._

 _"Well, you were-"_

 _"Hush! No talking!" your sister interrupts, not looking up from her planning. You tap your hoof impatiently as she makes all of the needed adjustments. She finally looks back up at you, slightly irritated. "Now, what is it you wanted to talk about again?" Before you can speak, Spike walks downstairs with a bowl of popcorn and looks you up and down._

 _"Well, you don't look as happy as when you left," he comments, winning an annoyed glance from you._

 _"I said, it looks like you were right, Twi. She doesn't want me to be in her show." Your frustration turns to sadness when you say this. With a sigh, you slump down against the wall. Spike comes up and pats you on the back consolingly._

 _"Don't be sad, [Y/N]. I'm sure Rarity has a perfectly good reason for not wanting you in her show. I mean, it probably has nothing to do with the fact that you're still new and it couldn't be that you're not cool enough or pretty enough or-" Before he can continue, Twilight lifts him up by the tail with her magic._

 _"I think you've said enough, Spike," she says, putting him down next to her. "He is right about one thing though: she probably has a legitimate reason for her decision. I mean, it is her show, maybe you just shouldn't question it."_

 _You look at your sister questioningly. "But everypony else is in it. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, even you were going to be in it!"_

 _"Don't forget the dress Rarity that made for herself," Spike adds, causing Twilight to kick him away. You grind your teeth, getting more annoyed by the second._

 _"Don't listen to him, [Y/N]. Everything will be fine, I know it." She smiles sweetly at you._

 _You look up at her, your face expressionless. Suddenly, the corners of your mouth slowly rise to form a smile. "You know it?"_

 _"Th-that's not what I meant." Twilight takes a step back, her left eye twitching slightly._

 _"You're lying, Twilight," you say, standing up and taking a step towards her. She steps back again and you continue advancing until Twilight is pushed up against the wall and you are nose-to-nose with her. You squint your eyes at her and she grins nervously. "What is going on? Tell. Me." Twilight's eyes dart from side to side, refusing to meet yours. All of a sudden, she ducks down under you and bolts up the stairs. With a loud yell, you run after her. Frantic, your sister scrambles under the bed in an attempt to loose you. "Oh, no you don't!" you snarl, grabbing her by the haunches and pulling her out._

 _"Let go! Let go!" she yells, feebly swatting at you with her hooves. You dodge her easily and pin her down with her hooves over her head._

 _"I will, if you tell me why Rarity isn't letting you join her fashion show." You grimace as she quickly shakes her head no. "Fine. Then you leave me no choice. One way or another, you will tell me!"_

 _"Never!" As soon as she says this, you let go of her front legs and dig your hooves into her sides, causing her to automatically burst out laughing. "St-stop ittttt!" Twilight thrashes around wildly._

 _"Not until you tell me!"_

 _Between laughs, Twilight makes an attempt to glare relentlessly at you. "I won't!" She swiftly pulls her now free hoof back and swings it at you, hitting you with a surprising amount of force. As it comes into contact with your face, you go reeling backwards and Twilight stands up defensively. You shake your head painfully and your sister gasps, her expression a mixture of guilt and fear. "Oh my gosh, I'm so so so sorry! I didn't mean to!" She takes a step back, biting her lip._

 _"What?" you ask groggily. "What are you talking about?" Suddenly anxious, you turn your head to look at your reflection in Twilight's bedroom mirror and gasp. Your left eye is swollen and bruised._

 _"I-I'm sorry, [Y/N], I didn't even know I could hurt you..." Twilight whimpers guiltily. Glancing from her to your reflection, you sigh._

 _"It's fine. You know what? If it's really that important, you don't have to tell me." Twilight gives you a relieved smile._

 _"Oh, thank you! I'm glad you've come to your senses. Here, let me get you an ice pack for that eye of yours." She leaves you upstairs and eventually completely disappears downstairs. After she's gone, a sly smile spreads across your face._

 _"Yes, you don't have to tell me why I can't be in the show because now, nopony will be in the show." Looking to where she disappeared, you give an aggressive snort. "Because if I can't have it, no...pony...can!"_

 _You look out your window with an evil grin as the sun rises. Today is the day. Now everypony can see how amazing and generous Rarity really is. You rub your hooves together evilly and chuckle as you go over the plan in your mind again. You turn around to see your alicorn sister stirring in bed and so you quietly tiptoe back to your bed and slip under the covers. As if on cue, she then sits up in bed and smiles._

 _"[Y/N], today's the day!" You pretend to wake up and get out of bed, nodding. "Your eye looks like it's almost completely healed too. Are you sure that you still want to come to the show? I mean, you really don't have to if you dont want to."_

 _You stretch and look up at her, feigning complete innocence. "Oh, I wouldn't miss this for the world." Twilight grins and trots downstairs. Once you're alone with only Spike, you quietly shake him awake. "Spike? Spike!" Grumbling, he turns over and opens his large green slits and looks at you._

 _"You should know not to wake a sleeping dragon, [Y/N]," he mumbles._

 _"Never mind that. So...did you get what I need?" You look at him anxiously._

 _"Well, that depends." He sits up as slowly as possible, acting as though he has all the time in the world. He finally makes eye contact. "Do you got the goods?" Rolling your eyes, you toss the bag of jewels into his claw. Eyeing you suspiciously, he takes one out and inspects it carefully. After a moment, he puts it back in the small sack, obviously pleased with your payment._

 _"All right, I held my end of the bargain. Now give me what I need." You tap your hoof impatiently as the young dragon pulls about ten buckets of red paint out from under Twilight's bed. Smiling, you pick them up one-by-one and take them downstairs to your sister's underground science room discreetly. Twilight is, to your delight, is busy in the other room. Before she can appear, you grab one of her large wooden bowls and pour the paint into it. Luckily, the bowl is wide enough to hold all of the paint. Suddenly, you hear hoofsteps coming down the hallway._

 _"[Y/N]? Where are you?" a familiar voice calls. "I made breakfast!" Looking around the room frantically, you grab a white tarp to drape over the bowl. As your sister walks in, you plaster a fake innocent smile on your face. "What, did you think that you could skip breakfast after I made it special?" She stops and looks at you oddly. "Um...are you ok, sis?"_

 _"Yep, I'm doing just great." You wrap your arm around her shoulders tightly and guide her out the door. "Why don't we just go try some of that yummy breakfast you made? I'm sure it will be great!" Twilight wiggles out your grasp and looks at you hesitantly. You hold your breath as she pauses._

 _"Well, ok, eager beaver. Let's go." You breathe a sigh of relief as she leads you back upstairs, blissfully unaware of the paint-filled bowl. As you make your way into the dining room, she stops again and meets your [E/C] eyes. "Hey, [Y/N]...what were you doing in my science room?"_

 _Your breath stops and your heart speeds up. Smiling guiltily, you say the only thing you can think of. "Doing what where?"_

 _Twilight looks at you strangely. "What?"_

 _"What?" you reply quickly._

 _"O-kayyy. Here, Spike has already set the table, and the muffins are cooling, so we can start with the grain." Spike, a sly grin on his face, pulls out a chair for you. The mischievous look in his green eyes is practically screaming, I know what you did. You return his look with a glare that warns, If you tell anypony, I will get you back, and you will not like it. Meanwhile, Twilight looks back and forth between both of you with a confused look. "Is there something going on here that I should know about? Spike?" The purple dragon looks up at her sheepishly._

 _"What, me and sweet little [Y/N] here?" He wraps his arm over your shoulder innocently. "Why, I have no clue where you would get a crazy idea like that." As if it his little spectacle wasn't bad enough, his uncontrollable laughter after he finishes speaking makes it more than obvious that he's lying. But before Twilight could question you and Spike, the kitchen timer starts ringing._

 _"Oh, the muffins!" Twilight yells, jumping up and racing into the kitchen. Meanwhile, Spike takes a seat across from you, his eyes never leaving yours._

 _"So...where did you hide it?" he asks._

 _"Shut up, Spike!" you practically hiss under your breath._

 _The dragon continues as though you hadn't said a word. "I mean, it's not like ten whole buckets of paint are easy to hide, so I'm just wondering how you did it."_

 _"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" You feel your anger boil against him, although you know that you could never act upon it._

 _"Why not, [Y/N]?" He looks up at you smugly. "Got something to hide? You're not trying to get...revenge, are you? I know that you were taught better than that." He wiggles his finger at you teasingly._

 _"Don't get cocky," you growl through gritted teeth. Every small action he does just pushes your buttons more and more. "I'm not getting revenge, either, I'm just getting rid of a problematic situation. Besides, what would everypony else think if Rarity put all of her friends in the fashion show but me? What kind of princess would I look like? An antisocial one, that's for sure."_

 _Spike holds up his hands, a grin still stuck to his face. "Hey, what you do with the product after I sell it to you is your business, not mine."_

 _Yeah, right," you scoff quietly as Twilight walks out of the kitchen while balancing a hot plate of muffins on her back._

 _"Spike, help me out here!" Twilight yells as she struggles to keep the muffins from falling down onto the floor. Spike hurries over to help her set them gently on the table. As soon as the plate is safely on the table, the baby dragon burps and a note appears out of thin air. Your sister quickly levitates the note over to her and reads through it. After she finishes, she looks at you with a big smile. "Great news, it looks like the griffons won't be coming to Equestria after all...weird, I thought they were sending over exchange students. But now I can go to the fashion show with you, [Y/N]!"_

 _"What, you're not even going to try to get back into the show?" Spike asks._

 _Twilight shakes her head. "No, I told Rarity I couldn't make it, and I don't want to intrude. Don't worry, I'm sure that she's completely prepared to go on without me." As she speaks, you eat a muffin while deep in thought._

 _"Hey, Twi, do you think you could teach me a cloaking spell? I've been trying but I can't seem to get it just right." You blink sweetly at her._

 _"Sure, I have just what you need in this book that I've been studying..." She grabs a muffin and gulps it down before leading you into the library. After a moment of searching, she grabs a marked book from one of the many shelves. "Here, this has a good spell for cloaking on page twenty-one. If you need any help, I'll just be in the kitchen." Unsuspecting, she trots out of the room and you rush over to the book, opening it to page twenty-one. Sure enough, the page contains the exact spell you need. Grabbing a quill, you take it over to the book and set it down while skimming the instructions._

 _"Let's give this a try," you murmur, focusing your magic on the quill. To your excitement, the top of the quill begins to vanish into thin air until it has completely disappeared. Curious, you tap the area where the quill was and feel a tickly material. It's still here, we just can't see it. Perfect! I couldn't have asked for a better spell. Smiling, you finish reading the page._

 _Cloaking/Invisibility Spell_

 _Description: The spell developed by Starswirl the Bearded after the days of Discord's rule. This spell is unstable but can be utilized by any unicorn if necessary. After this spell is cast upon a single item, it will remain hidden from the naked eye for exactly one hour. After the time period expires, the item could become seeable but non-solid for up to ten minutes (meaning that the item could seem to have taken back its natural form but would actually behave like a gas should it come into contact with anything)._

 _"Hmm. Simple enough." You close the book and walk down to the science room. You breathe a sigh of relief as you see that the paint bowl hasn't been touched since you were with it. You quietly pull the white tarp off of it and cast the cloaking spell. You grin as the bowl disappears. Testing the spell, you levitate the invisible bowl off of the ground and carry it carefully upstairs._

 _"Ready to go, [Y/N]? The show will be starting soon," Twilight asks after about fifteen minutes, opening the door for you._

 _"Yeah, let's go." You trot outside and Twilight brings up the rear, while Spike stands in the doorway, waving you off._

 _"You're not coming, Spike?" your sister asks, turning to glance at him._

 _"Nah, I'm gonna pass. But don't worry, I'm sure that it will go just swimmingly." He shoots a small smile at you as he says this._

 _"Well, ok. Make sure that the books in the far right corner are in alphabetical order by the time we're home." The purple alicorn smiles and turns around to follow you to the show. You continue to lead, still holding the paint bowl up with your magic. "Um, [Y/N]?" You jump at your sister's voice._

 _"What is it?"_

 _"What are you doing? Why is your horn glowing?" You suddenly lose your breath and look up to see a pink aura surrounding your [B/C] horn as you continue to levitate the paint bowl._

 _"Um..." You frantically search for an idea as to why you are obviously using magic. "I-I...allergies." You do a mental facehoof. Allergies? Seriously? I am such an idiot..._

 _"Allergies?" Twilight questions, confused._

 _"Um, yeah. You see, I'm keeping all of the pollen away from me with this containment spell I found." You plaster on a fake smile with a squee._

 _"Huh. Can't say I've ever heard of allergies, but all right."_

 _"It's a human thing," you say quickly._

 _"But-"_

 _"Oh, look, we're here!" you interrupt before Twilight can ask any more questions. In the town square of Ponyville, a large stage with a runway is set up. It's decorated all over with fall colors and fake leaves. A large red curtain covers the backstage and catwalk area where you can hear your other friends talking nervously and getting dressed. You and Twilight are some of the first ponies to arrive and take a seat in the very front row. Concentrating, you feel where the paint bowl is with your magic and position it perfectly over the stage, where it can still be dumped on the stage but will be hidden by the curtain when the spell wears off. Smiling, you settle back into your seat as more ponies begin to pour in._

 _A loud scratch on a disk catches your attention. Everypony turns to look at Vinyl Scratch in her deejay booth. She nods at the technical pony and he shines a spotlight at the center of the stage. Upbeat techno music begins and Rainbow Dash flies out wearing a beautiful dress. It's a light blue mid-length dress with a white hem on the ends. With a daring look on her face, she struts down the runway and strikes a fierce pose at the end. After pictures are taken she walks back but doesn't go backstage. Instead, she stands right under the paint bowl that you hid from everypony's view._

 _"Rarity has really outdone herself," Twilight whispers. You ignore her. The music suddenly changes to a remix of a lullaby. Fluttershy then shyly pokes her head out and walks down the runway. She is wearing a white lace dress with a beautiful white crown to go with it. Her mane and tail are curled and she does look pretty. As she reaches the end of the catwalk, she ducks her head and blinks innocently._

 _"Woohoo! Go Fluttershy!" You immediately recognize the cheerer as Discord and roll your eyes with a smile. A sudden pang then shoots through your head and horn. I won't be able to hold this paint bowl much longer._

 _By this time, Fluttershy is standing by Rainbow and the music has changed to a techno-fied version of a banjo song. Applejack steps out holding a rope in her mouth stylishly. She has her mane and tail down and brushed for once and a pretty yellow and white country-style dress on. She has a white cowboy hat on for a change and white cowboy boots to match. As she reaches the end of the runway, she twirls and whips the rope, then turns around and walks back to stand next to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy._

 _Now, the music changes back to its regular fun beat and Pinkie Pie bounces out, a huge smile on her face. Her mane and tail are tied up in a high ponytail and her dress is every shade of pink you could think of, plus it has a black trim for good balance. The chest area is a light, soft pink with black edges, while the rest of the dress bleeds in to a deeper pink with black fabric creeping farther up the sides in the back. Pinkie reaches the end of the runway and gives one of her famous smiles, then walks back to Rainbow, Fluttershy, and AJ._

 _"Go girls! Woohoo!" Twilight cheers and claps as everypony onstage takes a bow. Next, Rarity steps onstage with a large smile on her face. She is wearing a long black and red dress with sparkly black heels. As she bows, another extreme pain shoots through your head like a migraine that won't go away. You look up at where the paint bowl would be apprehensively. Come on, just appear already! Suddenly, as everypony is waving and taking one final bow onstage, the paint bowl appears._

 _"Yes!" you shout, glad to be able to finally let it drop. As it falls, time feels like it begins to slow down, and for the first time, you actually have a moment to look at your friends as the red paints tumbles towards them. Fluttershy is smiling shyly and waving, Pinkie Pie is bouncing excitedly and waving at the cameras with a huge smile, Applejack is pushing her hat up and waving at the crowd happily, Rainbow Dash is striking a cool pose and saluting everypony, and Rarity...she looks proud, and happy. She is waving at the crowd and her eyes are even beginning to tear up in joy. It's now that you suddenly can't breathe as you realize what you're doing. No, no, no, no! What the heck was I thinking? I'm such a freaking idiot! I have to stop this NOW. You look up and see the paint bowl hurtling towards your unsuspecting friends from above._

 _"No," you say quietly, standing up. As it gets closer to them, you begin running towards them and yelling louder. "No, no, no, no, no!" You jump onstage quickly and push your friends out of the way as the paint bowl's red paint begins to fall out the side and come right at you. You brace yourself for extreme embarrassment as the paint gets closer and closer until it's merely an inch from your head. You close your eyes and hold your breath as...nothing happens. You open one eye to see the paint pass right through you and the stage floor, followed closely by the bowl. You gulp as you remember the book's words: After the time period expires, the item could become seeable but non-solid for up to ten minutes. As you look at your friends, they give you perplexed and somewhat upset faces. You don't dare look at Twilight. As you continue to stand onstage in shock, the audience begins laughing, and you know that they're laughing at you, not with you._

 _"It was a special effect, princess!" somepony yells mockingly, and your ears flatten to your head. Eyes beginning to water, you realize what you just tried to do. Before anypony can do anything, you quickly use a teleportation spell that Twilight had taught you and teleport home. As the stage disappears and is replaced with the tree library that you live in, you let your tears begin falling and collapse on your bed. I'm a terrible friend. The other girls didn't do anything to deserve to be embarrassed. Not even Rarity did anything that could deserve her show to be ruined like that. I do though. I deserved that. I'm glad it was me and not them. Oh, they'll probably hate me now. Maybe I wasn't ready to be a princess after all..._

 _"[Y/N], what is the meaning of this?" You whip your head around to see your sister standing over you with a stern face, which softens as she sees you. "Hey, why are you crying?" She lies down on the bed next to you._

 _"Go away, I don't deserve a great sister like you, or friends like the other girls." You wipe your eyes and bury your face in your pillow._

 _"[Y/N], Spike told me everything when I teleported here. You didn't have to get revenge on Rarity for not putting you in the fashion show."_

 _You look up at her. "I know, Twilight, I'm so sorry, I wasn't even thinking, I just was upset that my other friends were in the show and I wasn't, so I wanted to ruin the show for everypony else, so I planned to dump red paint on the girls at the end of the show. But then, at the last minute, I could really see what I was doing. I saw how happy my friends were, and how proud Rarity was, and...I just couldn't mess things up for them. But the spell, the cloaking spell that I had used to get the bowl full of paint here, it had a catch. After the bowl appeared, it would just pass through anything. So, in the end, I just ended up embarrassing myself."_

 _"Oh, sis..." Twilight puts her hoof on yours comfortingly. "You did do one good thing though. You felt bad and were ready to embarrass yourself in order to help your friends. The important thing after making a mistake is feeling bad that you did it and fixing it. You feel bad, so now you just need to fix it."_

 _"No need, Twilight." A white unicorn steps out from the shadows . "I already heard everything." Rarity walks over to you, and you duck your head. "[Y/N], you don't have to be afraid of me. I forgive you."_

 _You look up at her, surprised. "You do?"_

 _She smiles. "Of course I do, darling. You should've seen the thing I've done before just so that I could get more social connections in Canterlot. So yes, I can forgive you for this, and the other girls agree with me. Oh, and the reason that I didn't want you to be in the Fall Fashion Show was because I recently made a brand new line of dresses just for you." Your jaws fall open and Rarity continues. "It was in honor of your recent coronation, and I was going to have a show where it would only be you modeling the dresses. I just didn't want anypony to feel left out, you see."_

 _"Oh, Rarity...I'm so sorry!" You give her a big hug, which she returns._

 _"It's all right, but I think you have a letter to write." You turn around to see Spike standing behind you, ready to write._

 _"Hey, [Y/N]...I just wanted to apologize for teasing you earlier." He smiles bashfully and you give him a small hug._

 _"It's ok, Spike. Now, let's write this letter. Dear Princess Celestia..."_

 _Princess Celestia looks over her letter to the griffons and sighs. "I just hope that the griffons can end their new civil war soon, because until then, Equestria will accept absolutely no exchange students." A letter suddenly appears in front of her. "Well, let's see what's happening in Ponyville." She opens the scroll and reads its contents._

 _Dear Princess Celestia,_

 _Today I learned an important lesson, maybe one of the most important ones that I'll ever learn. When a friend doesn't let you join in on something, they usually will have a good reason. Sadly, I didn't believe this, so first, I tried to find out what the reason was, but when that failed, I made a terrible decision. Instead of accepting my friend's decision, I tried to sabotage the event for everypony else, but at the last second, I realized that I couldn't do that to my friends and embarrassed myself to protect them. But, in reality, I could've saved myself the humiliation by just being in subjection to my friend's decision. Next time, I will abstain from taking revenge on ponies, even if she didn't have a reason to not include me._

 _Your subject, [Y/N]_

 _Ok, this is literally the longest chapter I've ever written by a long shot. But, hey, I hope it was worth the wait. I can really see Spike taking the annoying little brother position with you, and I think he's pretty fun to use. Well, I hope you enjoyed! This is and will always be Bronygirl6729!_


	11. Chapter 11

_Chapter Ten: Princess Pony Slumber Party_

 _Hey guys. Sorry about the wait, I got really sick. You know, I've had some serious writer's block lately, but I'm glad my readers are here to get me through it. Now, a lot of people have been asking me how long Crossing Words is really going to be. I mean, I can't believe that we're already to chapter ten, but l still have so much of a story to tell you (once I can figure out how to tell it), so I think that this story may end up being...maybe sixteen chapters? But that all depends. Another thing...I have been practically trampled by people telling me to make a chapter about the return of Reptantis. Don't worry, I pinkie promise that I will do that. In fact, it will be very soon, so just hold your ponies! All right, read away!_

 _"I bet you didn't know that I duplicated myself! Isn't that a fun story? Huh? Isn't it?" A pair of happy blue eyes looks back at your [E/C] eyes expectantly. You smile at her pep._

 _"Yes, Pinkie Pie, it is pretty cool." You stand up from where you where sitting at Twilight's desk and look outside. The sky is beginning to turn darker as the sun sets in the distance. "I'm kind of glad that I wasn't here to see it, though."_

 _"Yeah, you should be!" Rainbow Dash agrees, flying up behind you. "It was completely out of control chaos!"_

 _"Did somepony call me?" Discord says with a smirk from where he stands next to Fluttershy, Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack._

 _"You want some trouble, Dipcord?" Rainbow Dash teases, putting her fists up jokingly._

 _"Hey, I'm still used to being ol' Mr. Chaos," he jokes, holding his mismatched hands up defensively._

 _"Whatever," Rainbow snorts. She then looks at you. You're still looking outside as the last of the sun disappears under the horizon. It still gets you every time, the way that the moon takes its place in the sky as soon as the sun is lowered. Like clockwork. Only it's not a machine, it's two living, breathing, colorful ponies that cause the world to sustain life. "Um, hello, pony with the far-off stare." Rainbow Dash's voice brings you back to reality._

 _"What?" you snap quickly._

 _"Hey, take it easy, I was just wondering what was so cool outside."_

 _You sigh. "Sorry, I didn't mean to do that. I was just watching the sun go down."_

 _"WHAT?! It's night already?" Rarity looks at you anxiously. "Oh my goodness, I must get home! Poor Opalescence will need her bath, and I have to work on a dress for a new client! I'm sorry, everypony, but I must go. I bid you all adieu." Dramatically, Rarity waves goodbye and walks out the door._

 _"Yeesh, somepony needs to learn to keep the drama on the stage," Discord comments, earning a disapproving glance from Fluttershy._

 _"I need to go too, sorry," AJ says sadly. "This was fun, though. We should all get together again soon." With that, she pushes up her hat and trots out the door._

 _"We should probably get going too, Discord. It's getting late, and I still need to clean the house and fluff Angel's tail, not to mention feed all of the other animals." Fluttershy looks up at the draconequus and offers her hoof, which Discord gladly takes. Waving with her free hand, Fluttershy walks out the door with Discord._

 _"Awww," Pinkie coos. "That's so adorable."_

 _"More like gross! Don't you guys remember when he was our enemy? Yuck!" Rainbow makes a face._

 _Pinkie blinks up at the rainbow mare sweetly. "Come on, Dashie, can't you just appreciate love? Besides, we all know that you have a crush on Soarin, so we know that you've fallen in love before too."_

 _Rainbow's face turns red and she looks away. "I-I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just a lean, mean, tough machine! I don't have time for sappy things like love."_

 _You smile, eager to hear this. "Aw, come on, Dash! You may act tough, but everypony knows that you're just as girly and lovey-dovey as Rarity."_

 _"Am not!" she defends, trying to hide her embarrassment. You and Pinkie giggle as Twilight gives both of you a stern stare._

 _"Leave her alone, girls. She's allowed to have a crush," Twilight defends._

 _"Yeah, Twilight, and so are you," Pinkie teases, causing your sister to blush._

 _"What?" You look at everypony. "Is there something I should know about?"_

 _Twilight looks at the ground shyly. "Oh, um...well...you see, [Y/N]..."_

 _"What Twilight means is that she has a crush on this guard at Celestia's castle named Flash Sentry and he totally likes her back, and-"_

 _"Pinkie Pie!" Twilight whines, blushing even harder._

 _"What? [Y/N] asked." Pinkie smiles happily._

 _"Well, I should be going, I have to..." Rainbow Dash pauses. "Huh, looks like I have no plans for today or tomorrow. What about you girls?" You and Twilight shake your heads no._

 _"Well, actually, that's just what I was going to ask Twilight and [Y/N]," Pinkie chimes in. "You see...the Cakes are going to have the bakery repainted, and so I have to find someplace else to sleep tonight, so..." She looks up at you expectantly. "I thought maybe I could have a sleepover here!"_

 _Twilight jumps up excitedly. "A sleepover?! I get to use the sleepover book!" Squealing in happiness, she runs off in search of the book._

 _"I think a sleepover would be a great idea, Pinkie," you comment with a smile._

 _"I found it!" Twilight says excitedly as she runs towards you while levitating the book above her. As she reaches you, she plops down and opens it to the table of contents, then turns to a chapter called Preperation. After a moment of reading, she makes a face._

 _"What is it?" you ask, trying to look over her shoulder at the page._

 _"It says here that the bigger the sleepover, the more fun it will be. But we only have three ponies..." Your sister turns to look at Rainbow Dash pleadingly._

 _"Ok, fine, I'll come to your sleepover," the rainbow mare sighs. "Just don't try to make me do any of your egghead stuff."_

 _"Yes!" Twilight jumps in the air triumphantly and lands on Rainbow Dash, who ends up being tackled in a big hug. "Thank you, thank you! This is going to be so much fun! I've only had one other slumber party before with Applejack and Rarity but...well, that one kind of ending up with a tree falling on my house. But that won't happen this time!"_

 _You snicker. "A tree fell on your tree-house? So you had a tree-collision?" You burst out laughing and Pinkie Pie laughs too._

 _"A tree-collision! Hahaha!" she snorts._

 _The purple mare rolls her eyes. "Yes, [Y/N], it was a tree-collision. Happy now?" You can tell that she's trying to be serious, but a smile is still spread across her face._

 _"Ooh, ooh, I have a joke!" Pinkie offers._

 _"Let's hear it," Rainbow says._

 _"Ok, what happens if two giraffes get their necks tangled up in a big crowd?" She pauses, trying to hold giggles in._

 _You smile. "I don't know, what?"_

 _"They start a giraffic jam!" Everypony dies laughing as she says this._

 _"I understand!" Twilight proclaims. "A giraffic jam sounds like a traffic jam, and that makes it funny!"_

 _"Yes, Twilight, we know," you say._

 _"Oh...I killed the moment, didn't I?"_

 _"Aw, it's ok, Twi!" Pinkie puts her arm on the alicorn. "I'm sure that we'll have plenty more chances to tell jokes later."_

 _Twilight frowns. "But jokes aren't on the schedule."_

 _Rainbow Dash raises an eyebrow at her. "You made a schedule already?"_

 _Your sister tilts her head. "Well, of course not! That would be impossible in such a short amount of time. "_

 _You squint your eyes at her. "Then why are you talking about a schedule?"_

 _"Isn't it obvious? I made a schedule before the sleepover! I always have a spare slumber party schedule just in case something like this happens." Twilight smiles, satisfied._

 _"But..." You stop and shake your head. "Oh, forget it."_

 _Rainbow looks over at Twilight. "All right, then what's first on the schedule?"_

 _"I'm not sure, I'll go get it." The alicorn walks over to her desk and shuffles through a drawer of organized files, then picks up a large sheet of paper and lays it on the desk for everypony to see. "Ok, I might have to make a few tiny changes, but for the most part, this schedule will work." She pauses to read through every activity. "Ok, first, we get to do each other's manes and tails!"_

 _Pinkie claps her hooves. "Hooray! Do you think we could play dress-up after, Twilight? Please?"_

 _"Well, I guess dress-up can fit in the same category as mane styling..." Twilight says reluctantly._

 _"Oh no, I'm not dressing up in some frou-frou lace outfit," Rainbow snorts._

 _Pinkie smiles confidently. "Don't worry, Dashie, maybe you can dress up as a rock star or something else that is..." She deepens her voice and crosses her arms rebelliously. "...cool." Everypony laughs as she says this._

 _"All right, I guess we can try it," Rainbow Dash laughs._

 _"Here, I have a bunch of old costumes and clothes in this closet," your sister says, pointing at a small wooden door._

 _"Everything you have is in there?" Rainbow Dash asks in disbelief. "That thing is so small, I doubt any of us could even fit in there!"_

 _Twilight chuckles. "Oh, Rainbow, you can't just look at the outside and make a conclusion. You have to look inside..." With that, she opens the door and everypony's mouth falls open. Inside, the closet expands in all directions, becoming wide enough for everypony to stand in and long enough for all seven of the girls to stand in, even if you included Spike and Discord. You also notice that it splits off in two directions from here._

 _"Wow," you say, mesmerized._

 _"I told you so." Twilight smiles as she peers down the rows of clothes. "You see, the tree wasn't completely hollow when it was built, so there was actually enough room to make a strange new closet, one that would wind around the entire inside of the tree, but it could not be seen unless you come through this unsuspecting door."_

 _"So...this hallway just keeps going on until it makes one full ring around the tree." You gaze up at the clothes: boxes of clothes, clothes on hangers, all perfectly organized._

 _"Yes, and between me, Spike, and now [Y/N], we have enough clothes to fill this entire place up." Twilight makes a puzzled face when everypony looks up at her, shocked. "What?"_

 _"I never took you for somepony who likes outfits this much," Rainbow remarks._

 _"Yeah, I thought all you did was read, eat, and sleep!" Pinkie adds. "Ooh, and hang out with your bestest friends in all of Equestria!"_

 _Twilight nods. "Well, yes, I love doing all of that, but as you can see, I'm very sentimental when it comes to clothes. So I've kept everything, from my baby clothes to my Nightmare Night costumes." She glances at her wings. "Of course, now they all need wing holes..."_

 _Unsure of Twilight's claim that the hallway makes a full circuit around the tree, you turn to your left and race off, ignoring the cries of the other girls. You zip past more clothes than Rarity could make in a lifetime, their colors becoming a blur to you as you gain speed. You slow down a bit when you enter an area that's pitch black, but don't stop running. Sheesh, somepony needs to put some new lights in here, I can't even see my own hoof in front of my face. However, you don't stop, but lower your pace to a trot. Luckily, after almost colliding with the wall a few times, you begin to feel the curve of the closet and pick up the pace. To your relief, you see that the lights are working again in the distance. Smiling, you begin sprinting towards the light, only to run into Rainbow Dash, knocking both of you over in the process._

 _"Hey, watch it, [Y/N]!" she says, helping you up. "You may be a princess, but I can still do this." She punches you in the shoulder playfully._

 _"Yeah," you pant, rubbing your shoulder. You turn to Twilight. "Ok, I believe you now."_

 _She giggles. "Good. Then let's pick something and try it on!"_

 _You smile at yourself in Twilight's mirror, positioning your costumed body around to get a good look at your outfit. You have on a long sparkly cape complete with a long white beard and sorcerer hat. Rainbow Dash stands next to you wearing a black leather jacket, studded boots, stylish sunglasses, and black mane and tail extensions._

 _All of a sudden, Pinkie Pie leaps out of the closet with a huge grin and a cow costume. "Look girls, I'm a cow! Moo!" You and Rainbow exchange glances, then burst out laughing._

 _"I didn't even know I had that," Twilight remarks, straightening her fake glasses in her personal mirror. She turns around. "Look, I'm a student attending Hooverd University! It was always my dream to attend Hooverd after graduating Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, but then I sort of became a princess." She has on big round glasses, a lab coat, and a beanie hat._

 _Rainbow Dash pauses. "Well, if Rarity were here, I'm sure she would say, 'Oh, my, Twilight, that is just so nerdy-chic, darling. To die for, I'm sure.'" You and Pinkie burst out laughing, bit Twilight just rolls her eyes with a smile._

 _"Hey, don't talk about Rarity like that!" another voice says. You turn around to see a miffed dragon standing at the top of the staircase._

 _"Relax, Spike, we're only kidding," Rainbow says._

 _"Well, I don't like it," he huffs, crossing his arms. You smile and walk up to him with a pouty face._

 _"Aw, does her little Spikey-Wikey not like it when we say that?" you tease._

 _"Hey, only she gets to call me Spikey-Wikey!" he growls._

 _"I'm just messing with you, Spike! Take a chill pill." You bring him in to a forceful hug and he rolls his green eyes._

 _"Oh, brother."_

 _"Oh, gosh, Spike!" Twilight walks towards him. "I completely forgot. We're having a sleepover tonight, so you're going to have to stay at Fluttershy's cottage or something."_

 _He wiggles out of your hug. "What? Come on! I sleep in the same house as you and [Y/N], and you're fine with that. I mean, we don't-" He is cut off mid sentence as Twilight teleports him away, presumably to Fluttershy's place._

 _"Aw, sorry Spike, no boys allowed!" Pinkie yells after him._

 _Spike opens his large green slits to see a familiar draconequus standing above him in Fluttershy's living room._

 _"Strange, I thought I was the only dragon-related animal that could teleport," Discord muses._

 _"It's not fair," Spike grumbles as he stands up, brushing himself off. "Twilight, [Y/N], Rainbow, and Pinkie are having a sleepover, so they kicked me out!"_

 _"You sound like you want revenge, my green little friend." Discord puts out his hand, ready to snap his fingers. "Just say the word and it's done."_

 _Spike eyes him warily. "Oh yeah? What's the catch?"_

 _The draconequus smiles. "Nothing. I just haven't pulled a prank on anypony in over a week. I've got a reputation to uphold, you know. All I ask is that you let me do the actual revenge."_

 _"And Fluttershy?"_

 _"Sound asleep in her sweet little bed. And she's a heavy sleeper, delicate as she looks. Believe me, we'll be fine."_

 _"Then you got a deal, Disco!" Spike puts his claw in Discord's lion paw and they shake on it._

 _Discord stretches and cracks his knuckles after they break away. "Now...let's get this thing started."_

 _"Ok, ok, I'll go now." Pinkie Pie steps up in front of you and the girls. Clearing her throat, she begins to put her hoof in front of her face and move it up and down. "Whoo! Whoo! What am I?"_

 _You jump up. "An elephant! You're an elephant, right?"_

 _Pinkie smiles. "That is co-rrect! Now it's your turn, [Y/N]!" She steps back and you take her place._

 _"All right, what am-" You're cut off as a bunch of rats fall on top of you from out of nowhere. "What the hay?" You back up as the rats screech and scurry off in different directions and disappear in the shadows and corners. You look to your sister, who shares the same perplexed expression as you. "Twilight...?"_

 _She shakes her head, confused. "It wasn't me. I don't get it...Rainbow and Pinkie can't use magic, so where did those rats come from?"_

 _"Take a guess," a voice says from behind you. You fall and stumble backwards as you see a larger, more menacing version of Spike behind you._

 _"Spike!" Twilight exclaims. "Have you been stealing things again?"_

 _Spike shakes his head. "No, I'm still Spike, I just have magic now!" He demonstrates by snapping his fingers which causes your bed to burst into confetti._

 _You whip around to look at him. "Knock it off!"_

 _Twilight looks at Spike, shocked. "Spike, how the wide, wide world of Equestria did you get magic? You don't even have a horn! The only non-pony that can do magic is-"_

 _You grit your teeth. "Discord..." As you say this, deep laughter echoes throughout the room and Discord materializes on Twilight's bed._

 _"Oh, Celestia! This is great!" He bursts out laughing. "The rats! Man, that was good. Nice one, Spikester!" Spike gives him a thumbs up._

 _"Spike, what are you even doing here? Why did you get magic from Discord?" You look at him questioningly._

 _Discords explains before Spike can respond. "Well, you see, I was in Fluttershy's cottage, minding my own business, when a dragon poofs right in front of me! Naturally, I make a sarcastic comment, and then I discovered that my scaly friend wanted to get back at you girls for kicking him out. So I gave him a little magic and a size upgrade, and now here we all are." He smiles contently at everypony._

 _"It's the awesome guy tradition of crashing the girls' sleepover," Spike agrees sinisterly._

 _"What do you mean, 'get back at us?'" Rainbow questions defensively. As she asks this, Spike snaps his fingers and Rainbow falls down to the ground, followed by Pinkie, then Twilight._

 _You look around apprehensively. "Spike, what are you d-" You stop speaking as your head grows heavy and you fall to the ground, asleep._

 _"Welcome to the Discord Trivia Challenge, with your host, Discord!" You hear cheering and open your heavy eyes to a game show set._

 _"What the hay?" You look down to see your leg chained to a colorful booth, and the other three girls are in your same predicament._

 _Pinkie Pie's eyes light up. "Ooh, a game show? This will be so fun, even though we're all stuck here." She claps her hooves, smiling happily._

 _"Fun? Not likely," Rainbow Dash huffs, tugging on her chain. "If I know Discord, then this will be physically exhausting and emotionally scarring, not fun."_

 _"Come on, girls, there must be a logical way out of this," Twilight points out. "Maybe we can reason with the boys."_

 _Rainbow shakes her head wildly. "Logic, schmogic. In the end, we're going to have to fight our way out." As the conversation continues, all three of their voices begin to overlap and argue. Meanwhile, you stay quiet and scan the room for a way out. You realize that it only looks like a game show studio; in reality, it was a stage with black paper silhouettes where the audience would be. There doesn't seem to be a door, though, which worries you slightly._

 _"All right, settle down ladies." Discord, dressed in a suit and fake mustache, appears in front of you and everypony quiets down. "Thank you, thank you. Now, I have direct orders from Spike to host this little game show for all of you, so let's get playing!" He takes a small question card put of his suit pocket. "All right, first question. What is Discord's middle name? Twilight, your answer please?"_

 _Twilight looks at him in confusion. "What? I didn't even press the buzzer!" A loud alarm sounds._

 _"Oh, sorry, that is incorrect. Now, what does Twilight have to do?" Discord snaps his fingers and a large sign appears next to him that reads, Have magic altered. "All righty then, it's time for Ms. Sparkle to complete her challenge!" He snaps his fingers and your sister's horn deflates._

 _"What-what are you doing?" Twilight looks at her horn in horror and tries to use magic, but instead, her mane become polka dotted. "Hey! My mane! Fix me right now!_

 _Discord grins mischieviously. "Sorry, no can do, Princess. Oh, and [Y/N], you can't use magic in here because I magically sealed off all pony magic. Now, on to the next question. Who does Discord love pranking the most? Pinkie Pie?" The draconequus turn to the pink mare._

 _Pinkie looks at the ceiling in thought. "Um, ok, is it Twilight? No, Princess Celestia! Wait, no..." The loud alarm buzzes again._

 _"The answer we're looking for is anypony and everypony, but good try. However that was still incorrect! So, Ms. Element if Laughter, let's see was the sign has in store for you..." The words on the sign change to read, Be tickled. "Ok, challenge time!" Discord snaps his fingers and two feathers appear next to Pinkie and start tickling her, causing her to laugh uncontrollably._

 _"Dis- haha -cord, stop tickling- hahaha- me!" She stumbles around the entire length of her chain trying to escape the feathers, but to no avail. Snorting and giggling, she ends up just collapsing on the ground._

 _"While Pinkie continues her challenge, let's move on to Ms. Loyalty Dash." He looks at the tomboy smugly and picks up a question card. "Your question is: how old is Discord?"_

 _"Older than dirt, if you ask me," she insults defensively._

 _"Well, if I cared, I would tell you that you're wrong, but I'm not feeling very nice today, so let's just make you do your challenge, and...you know what? Let's spice things up and make your challenge have nothing to do with your element." The sign changes to, Have remote controlled wings replace current wings. "Just so you know, I have nothing against you girls, so don't take this personally. But Rainbow Dash...take it personally. Go ahead and take it very personally, because you have no idea how much I'm going to enjoy this." Smirking, he snaps his fingers and silver robotic-looking wings replace Rainbow's normal wings and a remote appears in Discord's lion paw._

 _Rainbow Dash turns to glare angrily at Discord. "Why, you little-" She yells as her new wings jerk her around._

 _Discord puts his eagle claw under his chin thoughtfully. "Here, this will be much more fun without that chain..." He snaps and the chain disappears, allowing Rainbow to fly out of control around the whole room. She yells and screams at Discord to stop but he merely ignores her, happy to play with his new toy._

 _"Twi...light...help...me!" she screams as she zooms past everypony at full speed._

 _"Don't worry, Rainbow, I'll help!" Twilight says as she points her horn at the rainbow mare, having already forgotten about her magic, or lack thereof. When she tries to zap Rainbow's wings, her body turns red, then blue, then yellow. You even giggle a bit as you watch your sister become the equivalent of a chameleon pony. She grits her teeth in frustration._

 _"Hmm, I think I'll just put her on autopilot," Discord muses, flipping a switch on the remote that makes Rainbow Dash do a continuous loop cycle in the air. He then turns to you. "Now, for our last lovely lady tonight, Princess [Y/N]." Discord claps and an applause sign lights up. "[Y/N], how are you? Where are you from?" As you open your mouth to speak, Discord continues coolly. "How interesting. Now, you see, you get a very special question. Are you ready? What is Discord's favorite thing in the world?" He looks at you intently, acting as though you would never figure it out. After a moment of thought, you meet his gaze confidently._

 _"Fluttershy," you answer simply. His expression changes to one of apprehension as he watches you stare him down. Shakily, he opens his mouth, then closes it, and then finally speaks._

 _"What? N-no, it's not Fluttershy. It's chaos, duh!" He rolls his eyes convincingly in an effort to throw you off._

 _You squint your [E/C] eyes at him. "You know, you stutter when you lie."_

 _"What?"_

 _"You stutter when you lie," you say with a shrug. "Twilight does the same thing. It's not very convincing when you do that, though."_

 _"I..." Discord has no response, only able to stare back at you, completely taken aback. You smile a bit when you see that you've outwitted him. Even Pinkie, who is still laughing to the point of breathlessness, and Rainbow, who looks like she's going to be sick, both look at you knowingly._

 _"Discord!" A voice echoes through the room, causing your vision to ripple._

 _"Huh?" is the last thing you manage to say before the room and your friends disappear completely._

 _You open your eyes to see that you're back in Twilight's library, Fluttershy standing over you._

 _"Oh, goodness, [Y/N], are you all right?" she frets, helping you to your hooves._

 _You rub your head. "I'm fine, but...wait, where's Rainbow Dash? And Pinkie Pie? And my sister?" You pause and squint your eyes as you remember what just happened. "Where. Is. Discord." Fluttershy points behind you and you turn around to see the girls drowsily getting up, Pinkie Pie still giggling. They all have your same expression and turn to look at Discord, who is also rubbing his head and standing up._

 _"You know, being so rudely awoken from such a nice dream gives me a headache," he muses as though nothing had happened._

 _Twilight is the first to step forward. "You forced us to fall asleep, enter a dream entirely set up by you, and put us through impossible and crazy challenges, and now you're complaining about a headache?" Twilight's volume slowly rises until she's yelling at the draconequus._

 _He smiles at all of you sheepily and slowly backs up as the four of you advance on him. "Now, ladies, let's n-not jump to...any...conclusions." By now he's up against the wall with a nervous smile plastered on his face. Rainbow pounds her hoof against her other hoof threateningly and Discord quickly snaps his fingers, causing Spike to appear next to him. "It was Spike! He put me up to it! He made me do that to you guys!" A large sparkly arrow appears pointing at Spike._

 _Spike looks around, puzzled. "What? What are you..." He turns to Discord, eyes wide. "Discord...what did you do?"_

 _Discord shrugs innocently. "Hey, you gave me freedom to do whatever kind of revenge I wanted, so...I kind of, sort of...made them play a Discord game show and pulled the funniest pranks ever on them when they got the questions wrong." He finishes quickly and smiles contently with a squee._

 _"I wouldn't call them pranks as much as mean, kind of ironic jokes," you correct._

 _"You ruined my magic!" Twilight says._

 _"You made me do so many loops, I thought I was going to be sick!" Rainbow accuses._

 _Pinkie Pie jumps up angrily. "And you tickled me so much, I thought that I would explode! But...wait, I forgot, I actually kind of like being tickled."_

 _"Discord!"_

 _Fluttershy gasps. "How dare you do such a thing? I thought you said that you were done with bad chaos!"_

 _The draconequus turns to the pegasus pleadingly. "But, Fluttershy, I just-"_

 _"I don't care! You need to fix this, so you're going to let these poor girls do whatever they want with you."_

 _"But I-" He is cut off as Fluttershy raises her hoof angrily. Instead, he ducks his head sadly. "Oh, all right, if it will help you forgive me..."_

 _Fluttershy looks at him with less anger. "Oh, sweetie, of course I will forgive you, but what you did to the girls was wrong, and you have to let them do it to you now in order to make it better."_

 _"The same goes for you, Spike," Twilight says sternly, causing the dragon to laugh nervously. "Discord, take away his magic, and make him his normal size again." The draconequus snaps and Spike turns small again._

 _You look at both of them "I hope you two learned a lesson about revenge."_

 _"I'm sure the Princess will love to hear about this," Rainbow says. "But first, I think I have something in mind..."_

 _"No, please make it stop!" Discord wails, yanking on his chain._

 _"It burns, it burns!" Spike yells, clutching his ears while watching the small orange pegasus in front of him sing._

 _"When you're a younger pony,_

 _"And your flank is very bare_

 _"Feels like the sun will never come_

 _"When your cutie mark's not there!"_

 _Scootaloo continues to sing for the boys in Twilight's room while you, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie stand off to the side with earmuffs._

 _"Do you think that they've had enough?" you yell to Twilight._

 _"Give it a few more minutes!" your sister hollers back. "Then they can write their letter!"_

 _Princess Celestia looks down at the royal guard intently. "And you're sure that the entire city was destroyed?"_

 _The guard nods. "Yes, Your Highness, I heard it straight from the mouth of a griffon messenger. Nopony survived."_

 _Celestia looks off in the distance solemnly, and the guard bows and exits. "We are living in dark times indeed," she murmurs. A letter suddenly appears in front of her. Celestia sighs. "Oh, Twilight, you and your friends do not known how lucky you are to be blissfully unaware of these troubles. Now, what have you learned?" She opens the letter and begins to read._

 _Dear Princess Celestia,_

 _Sometimes you may feel that one or more of your friends have made an unfair decision, and you may try to get revenge, even enlisting the help of a totally uninvolved friend, which is unfair both to your friends and your uninvolved friend. I wish that I had known that earlier before I got Discord to help me! Of course, it is the responsibility of the uninvolved friend to refuse to help get revenge. In the end, revenge in itself is a bad idea that can only hurt your relationships. Next time, I will just do what Twilight tells me to and hopefully Discord will refuse to help me. You better believe I will! Sorry, this is Discord. Spike is right, though, it was my responsibility as a friend to decline to help him do something that I know is questionable. Believe me, we wish that we had never gotten revenge now!_

 _Your subjects, Spike and Discord_

 _Not my best chapter, but very fun... In case you haven't noticed, trouble is brewing, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I can honestly say that this chapter was so fun to write, and hopefully worth the wait. The next chapter should really be a doozy, but I think you'll like it a lot...unless you're a guy. Then it might be kind of awkward (my apologies). Well, this is Bronygirl6729 as usual._


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter Eleven: Crushed_

 _Huzzah, another chapter! I've wanted to write this chapter for a long time, and I'm so excited that I finally wrote it! However, if you're a guy...sorry, but you might want to skip this chapter. This, sadly, is the problem of doing a story from your point of view, although it makes the story much more personal. Oh well, pros and con's, I guess. This chapter is loosely based off of the episode Frankie My Dear from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (which is one of my favorite shows of all time). Now, go and read, my followers! Go!_

 _"[Y/N]! Where's my alicorn legends and powers book? I need to do some research for the Princess." You open your eyes to see your sister standing above your bed._

 _"Huh?" you slur, rubbing your eyes._

 _"Here, I'll say it slowly so your tired brain can understand." She leans in close. "Have. You. Seen. My. Book."_

 _"What? No, how would I know? Where's Spike? Isn't that his job?"_

 _Twilight rolls her purple eyes. "[Y/N], he's helping Rarity at her house, remember?"_

 _Your eyes widen as you realize what today is. "Oh my gosh! I'm supposed to be at Rarity's boutique for the unveiling of my new clothing line! Gotta go, bye Twi!" Before she can respond, you leap out of bed and zip out the door, continuing to sprint all the way to Rarity's. You're panting heavily by the time you reach her house and knock on the fancy door while attempting to catch your breath. A disheveled Rarity opens the door._

 _"Oh, [Y/N], how delightful that you could make it," she says, fixing her mane a bit. "We're almost ready, so please, come in." She holds the door open for you and you walk inside to find the entire house a wreck. Pieces of ribbon and fabric, dress sketches, and pony mannequins litter the floor. Rarity closes the door and hurries over to a curtain. "I do apologize for the dreadful mess. I'll have to just clean all of this up later. Oh, wait here." She slips behind a curtain and you hear many crashing noises, and then the curtain falls back to reveal Rarity and Spike standing next to a beautiful, hoof-stitched dress by Rarity._

 _"Oh my gosh..." you say, walking up to the dress. It's a purple and pink tighter dress with a shorter hem at the end and no sleeves. "Rarity, this is amazing." You touch the fabric gently with your hoof. "Thank you so much!"_

 _Rarity smiles modestly. "You're quite welcome, [Y/N]. But thank Spike too. If not for little Spikey Wikey here, I may not have gotten this just right." She smiles at him. "He has a very keen fashion sense, even for a boy."_

 _Spike blushes. "Aw, it was nothing. Glad I could help!"_

 _Rarity puts the dress on a hanger, hands it to you, and pushes you into a changing room. "Here, you just must try this on! I'll be back in a few minutes after I've taken care of Sweetie Bell's breakfast."_

 _"Ok!" you call from inside the changing room. You slip on the dress and straighten it out until all of the crinkles are gone. "Hmm..." After a moment of consideration, you tie your mane up in a stylish ponytail. You then walk out to meet Spike. "What do you think?" You turn around to give him a full view of your new outfit. When he doesn't answer, you look down at him to see that he's just staring at you, mesmerized._

 _"I-gah...whoa..." is all he manages to say, never taking his green eyes off of you._

 _You giggle and decide to take it as a compliment. "Aw, you're so sweet." Smiling, you walk past him and up to Rarity's large mirror. The dress is very beautiful on you, and matches well with your [B/C] body color. Also, as you had suspected, the ponytail adds an interesting twist to your look. "Rarity really has outdone herself this time," you observe._

 _"I'll say," you hear Spike mumble as he continues to look at you._

 _"How is it, darling? Do you like it?" You turn around to see Rarity walking back in the room. As soon as she catches a glimpse of you, she stops dead in her tracks. "Oh. My. Gosh. You look fabulous!" She squeals happily and runs over to hug you. "Oh, I'm sorry, it's just that I'm so very excited!"_

 _You smile. "No, don't worry, it's fine. And thank you so much for doing this, Rarity. It is absolutely magnificent!" You twirl around and Rarity taps your shoulder with a small smile._

 _"It seems that you're not the only one that thinks so," she whispers, tilting her white head towards Spike, who is still looking at you with a dopey smile. You look at Rarity and both of you giggle a bit._

 _"I thought he liked you," you say in a lowered voice._

 _"He does," Rarity replies simply. "He's probably just attracted to you right now because of your new look. You know boys." As she speaks, she adjusts the neckline and side of your dress perfectly._

 _"I guess so." Even as you say this, you can't help but take another glance at the lovestruck baby dragon._

 _"Twi, I'm back!" you call as you walk into the tree library._

 _"Hello!" You look around as you hear your sister's voice, but you don't see her at her desk or organizing the shelves. "Up here!" You look up to your bedroom to see Twilight's head peeking out and looking at you._

 _"Oh. Hi there." You walk up the stairs to find Twilight sitting in bed with a book. "Um...what're you reading?"_

 _She looks up at you. "Just the book that I was looking for earlier: Alicorn Mythology, Magic, and Facts. Maybe you'd like to take a look when I'm done, you know, since we're both alicorns now."_

 _You sit back on your hooves. "You know, a couple of months ago, I never would've imagined that I could become a creature of legend in a magical world. Well, that's life, I guess." You chuckle._

 _"I guess so. Hey, where's Spike?"_

 _You lie down next to her to read over her shoulder. "I dunno. I think he's still helping Rarity."_

 _"No, I'm right here." You and Twilight look over the edge of the second floor to see Spike standing in the open doorway. You notice that he's looking more at you than at Twilight, and you can almost swear that you see his pupils become tiny hearts. He walks up the stairs slowly as though he were in some sort of trance until he's standing next to you._

 _Twilight glances at him from her book. "Oh, hi Spike. Did Rarity not need any more help?"_

 _He shakes his head. "No, I asked to come home. Anything I can help you with?"_

 _Twilight looks up thoughtfully, biting her lip. "Well, I did have some organ-"_

 _"Not you!" Spike snaps, then turning his attention back to you. "Is there anything at all that I can do for you, [Y/N]?"_

 _You and Twilight share a questioning look, and she merely shrugs. You turn back to Spike with a raised eyebrow. "Why would you want to help me?"_

 _He sighs contently. "Because...I can."_

 _"Well, um...all right. I do have one thing to do. Fluttershy and I were planning a surprise picnic for Rarity tomorrow, you know, to thank her for the dresses, and I needed to bring her a few things-"_

 _The young dragon smiles brightly. "Oh, that's it? You got it!" As he starts to run downstairs, you stop him._

 _"Woah, woah, wait." You step in front of him uncertainly. "You don't need to do this for me. It's my responsibility, and I should be the one to give the food to Fluttershy. You shouldn't have to run around doing errands for me."_

 _Your gaze softens and is replaced with guilt as his big green eyes start to water in sadness. "Y-you mean...you don't want my help? Am I not good enough?" He sticks out his bottom lip and you rub your shoulder, feeling guilty._

 _"No, no, forget what I said, you can help me! The food is in a picnic basket on the kitchen counter!" As soon as the words come out of your mouth, Spike's sadness disappears and he smiles with a squee._

 _"Great! I'll go deliver that right now!" He runs down the stairs and you merely stand there, irritated that the small dragon outsmarted you._

 _"Hey, have you noticed something weird about Spike recently?" Twilight asks from her bed, oblivious to the world around her because of the book in her hooves._

 _"Not a thing," you mutter._

 _Spike looks up, ignoring the glare of the afternoon sun. In front of him sits Fluttershy's quiet little cottage. Silently, he walks up to the door and gives a rapid knock._

 _Discord opens the door, feigning anger. "What the hay? Does nopony understand how annoying it is when you..." He makes his voice high-pitched and girly in a poor Fluttershy impression. "...disturb the peace?" The draconequus snickers and looks at his dragon friend expectantly._

 _"I'm not in the mood, man," Spike sighs. "I just came to drop off this food for the picnic."_

 _Discord puts his lion paw to his chin thoughtfully. "All right, what's up, man? You've got a problem. I can tell, I created most problems."_

 _"You swear that you won't tell?" The draconequus crosses his heart and Spike continues. "Well, I kind if have a crush on [Y/N] now, and I don't know how to make her like me back!" He lays his chin in his hand sadly._

 _Discord smiles over at the dragon. "Spike,, you player! Moving from one mare to the next. I like your style."_

 _Spike ignores his comment. "How do you do it, Disco? You and Fluttershy both have feelings for each other, even though you're totally different species! I wish I could do that..."_

 _Discord sits down next to his young friend, slightly more serious. "Ok, all joking aside, do you want to know the secret of getting mares to like you?" The small dragon nods rapidly. Looking around dramatically, Discord leans in close. "Confidence."_

 _"Are you kidding? That's it?" Spike asks, eyeing Discord unsurely._

 _"Yes, it's not as easy as it sounds, though. You have to be brave, daring, seductive. You make the first move. Just take her in your arms, look her in the eyes, and kiss her!"_

 _"I'm not sure that I can..."_

 _The draconequus flips his eagle claw. "Pshh, sure you can! Just go with the flow. Mares love that cool, laid back attitude."_

 _Spike raises an eyebrow. "And this worked on Fluttershy?"_

 _"I-I...um...yeah, sure." Discords puts on an unconvincing fake smile._

 _"If you say so!" Spike smiles, oblivious to Discord's discomfort. "Thanks, Disco!" He drops the picnic basket on a table and runs out the door with renewed courage._

 _As soon as Spike is gone, Discord rubs his shoulder guiltily. "Maybe I shouldn't have said that...oh well, I guess I can just take my own advice. Then it wouldn't be a lie!" He pats himself on the back. "Oh, Discord, you are brilliant!"_

 _You hum quietly as you skim through Twilight's alicorn book. Interesting. There was once a time when alicorns were non-existant, and the unicorns had to raise the sun and moon all on their own. I can't begin to imagine it! ...Huh? What's this? "Nopony has ever been born an alicorn; even Celestia and Luna were created into alicorn after their parents saw fit." Interesting...I wonder who made the Princesses' parents into alicorns. All this time, I never knew that my own kind was so interesting..._

 _"Hey, [Y/N]," a voice interrupts. You close the book and look up to see Spike standing at the top of the staircase, coolly leaning on the wall._

 _"Oh, hey Spike. Twilight went shopping for a little bit, in case you were looking for her." You stand up from your bed._

 _Spike walks over to you slowly. "Yeah, well, I'm not looking for Twilight." He looks into your [E/C] eyes. You're a bit surprised at how smooth he is, but don't think too much of it._

 _"Ok, then what's up?"_

 _He inches closer to you, resting his elbow on your bed. "I was looking for you. Sure, I think of Twilight as an older sister, but not you."_

 _You flatten your ears to your head, a bit unnerved. "Um, thanks?"_

 _The young dragon tenses for a second, but quickly covers it up. "[Y/N], I think of you as more than a friend."_

 _You blush and lower your head in embarrassment. "Oh, Spike, I-I..."_

 _He holds up a claw to your lips. "Shh, you don't have to speak. Just hear me out, ok?" Before you can even respond, Spike pulls you into a harsh kiss. You squeak in surprise, your eyes widening as your lips meet._

 _Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, this is so not happening. Where the hay did this come from? Oh Celestia, what have I gotten into...?_

 _Eventually, Spike ends the kiss and you pull away, blushing profusely. "Spike!" you yell, pushing your mane back. "What the hay was that?"_

 _For a moment, he loses his confidence and ducks his head sadly. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"_

 _"Spike, [Y/N], what-" Twilight's voice interrupts him. As you down, you see her by the door with her jaws hanging open. "Um...am I interrupting something?"_

 _Spike, confidence regained, pulls you next to him. "Twilight, you deserve to know that [Y/N] and I like each other and want to make a commitment."_

 _You pull away, agitated. "Spike, that is not true!"_

 _He shrugs. "Well, you kissed me."_

 _"I kissed you? B-but-I...ugh!" You snort angrily and walk downstairs, fuming. Twilight steps out of your way as you open the door and slam it behind you._

 _Discord rubs his mismatched hands together nervously. "Ok, ok, I can do this. You don't want to be a liar, do you? Then make it true." He breathes in and out calmingly. "I can do this."_

 _"Oh, hello there, Discord." Fluttershy walks in the door with a sweet smile. "I just finished planting the petunia seeds that I bought recently. Won't they look just radiant in a few months?" She twirls around and holds her clasped hooves to her cheek happily._

 _Discord smiles contently, forgetting what he needs to do for a moment. "Yes, you sure will be." He shakes his head rapidly. "I mean, them, not you. Well, you too, I'm sure, but...I..." Embarrassed, the draconequus does mental face paw/claw, conscious of how stupid he sounds._

 _Fluttershy merely giggles. "Well, I'm sure that we'll all look radiant in a few months, especially when winter comes." Humming to herself, she grabs a feather duster and begins dusting the furniture._

 _Discord gulps nervously, feeling as though he was going to break out into a cold sweat. "Ok, it's now or never," he whispers to himself. Pushing his fear aside, he casually walks up to where the small pegasus is dusting and gently puts his hands on her delicate shoulders. "Fluttershy, my dear, I need to say something."_

 _Her brilliant blue green eyes look up at him. "Oh, what is it, Discord? Do you need anything?"_

 _The draconequus sighs dreamily. "Oh, Fluttershy, you're still as considerate as ever, but no, it's nothing like that. You see, we've been housing together for some time now, and I need to get something off my chest, so just hear me out, ok?" Before the pegasus can respond, Discord pulls her in close and gives her a soft, gentle kiss. Fluttershy, to Discord's excitement, doesn't try to pull away, but kisses him back. The world around the two seems to slow down. The only thing in the world that matters to both of them is each other._

 _You kick a pebble irritably, both frustrated and internally confused with the situation that you've somehow managed to get into. You collapse on the narrow dirt road that you've wandered onto, not sure whether you should cry or scream. As confident as you feel when facing villains and new worlds, once under the pressure of Spike's love, you crack._

 _"How am I going to get out of this?" you ask yourself._

 _"Oh, [Y/N], are you all right?" You whip your head around to see Fluttershy on the path in front of you. It's that moment that you realize that you're near her cottage._

 _"I'm fine." You stand up slowly, not looking your happy friend in the eye._

 _"Oh, that's wonderful! Isn't everything wonderful?" She twirls around, swiftly picking a small pink flower and tucking it behind her ear. "Isn't love wonderful?"_

 _"I wouldn't exactly say that," you grumble._

 _Fluttershy smiles dreamily, not noticing your grumpiness. "I sure would! Everything is just so perfect!" She pauses. "You know, I think taking in Discord was the best thing that ever happened to me."_

 _You eye her, suddenly curious. "What do you mean?"_

 _For a moment, the yellow pegasus doesn't respond, she merely blushes and looks off somewhere behind you. "Well, you know how Discord and I have sort of...liked each other for a little while now?" You nod. "Just a few minutes ago, Discord finally came out and...well..."_

 _"What? He did what?" Your interest is now aroused, taking your thoughts off Spike for a moment._

 _She smiles, still blushing. "It was so romantic! He said that he wanted me to hear what he had to say, then he just grabbed me and kissed me. I just can't get over it!" She sighs._

 _Your ears perk as everything starts to come together. "Those...those were his exact words?"_

 _Fluttershy nods. "Yes, his exact words were, 'Just hear me out, ok?', then we kissed. Why?"_

 _You stiffen. "Ok, I think I need to catch you up..." You take a few minutes to explain to her what happened between you and Spike. As you speak, she just a sits there with a thoughtful look on her face. After you finish speaking, she looks up at you._

 _"Oh gosh, what a predicament. Now I feel bad for going on about Discord and I..."_

 _"It's fine," you say. "But I think that Discord may have given Spike the idea, and I don't know how to get Spike to stop liking me!"_

 _Fluttershy giggles. "Why do those two only end up creating mischief when they're together?" She looks at you, slightly guilty. "Oh, but I shouldn't be laughing. This is serious. Hmm..." She taps her chin and you lean in apprehensively. "I'm not sure that you can force anypony to stop or start liking you. Perhaps you'll just have to find a way to deal with it until he gets over his crush."_

 _You sigh and plop down glumly. "How do I know that he'll get over his crush? I'm not sure what I would do..."_

 _"He got over Rarity, didn't he?" the pegasus points out._

 _"I guess...thanks for talking to me, Fluttershy. Hopefully I can deal with Spike more efficiently now."_

 _She smiles innocently. "You're welcome, [Y/N]. Thank you too. I'd better get back to Discord, though. See you later!"_

 _"Go get him, girl!" You smirk as the both of you turn and walk off different directions._

 _After [Y/N] storms out, Twilight whips her head around to glare at Spike._

 _"Spike, why would you even try that?! Why would you do that to [Y/N]?"_

 _He crosses his arms. "I don't recall you having any problem when I liked Rarity!"_

 _"That's because you didn't kiss her!" Twilight growls, stomping up to her assistant furiously, but calming down once she sees his face. "Look, it's fine to have a crush on somepony, but you should never try to put them in a difficult or uncomfortable position."_

 _Spike looks up at her with now sad green eyes. "I know, it's just that I really want her to like me back..." He sighs and flops down glumly. "She probably never will, though."_

 _Twilight sits down next to him and puts a tender hoof on his shoulder. "Spike, if you really love her, then you won't try to put her into situations that she isn't comfortable with."_

 _He sighs. "I guess...maybe I should go apologize."_

 _Twilight rubs his head affectionately. "There's my sweet little Spike."_

 _You burst through the door to your tree home to see Spike and Twilight sitting on the floor together. You walk up to the dragon urgently. As you walk to him, he stands up and turns around to look at you seriously._

 _"I'm sorry!" you both say at the same time._

 _Spike holds up his hands. "No, don't apologize, you shouldn't be sorry! I'm the one that tried to push you into doing something that you didn't want to do. That was wrong of me."_

 _You smile at him. "Spike, that's true, but I was in the wrong too. Getting angry and storming out never helps a situation. I shouldn't have been so bothered by the fact that you have a crush on me, because I can't decide how you feel. Although I'm glad I took a walk outside before I said something that I could've regretted."_

 _Spike grins, but then his smile fades and he looks down at his feet. "So, does this mean you don't hate me?"_

 _"Of course not, Spike! I could never hate you, no matter how many dumb things you do." You wrap him in a small hug. "But maybe we can just be friends for now, ok?"_

 _He returns the hug happily. "Sounds good to me."_

 _Twilight stands up. "I'm so happy that you two managed to work your problem out in the end, and I know Princess Celestia would love to hear about it."_

 _"I'll get writing!" Spike announces, running up to the writing desk._

 _"And I'll help!" you add, following him._

 _"Dear Princess Celestia..." the two of you begin at the same time, then laugh at yourselves._

 _"I don't know what to do anymore, little sister," Celestia whispers sadly._

 _Luna frowns, uncertainty filling her mind. "We will find a way to protect Equestria. We've dealt with greater threats before, and now we have allies in the Crystal Kingdom and our two successors are safe in Ponyville."_

 _Celestia furrows her brow. "I would not consider them safe in Ponyville, Luna. She knows of their location and it will only be a matter of time before..." She trails off._

 _"You cannot afford to think like this, Lesti! If we aren't keeping a good attitude and level head, who will?" Luna yells._

 _"I know, and I would never let anypony else see me like this," Celestia sighs. Suddenly, a letter appears in front of where she sits on her throne. "Well, I suppose we should see how they're all doing." Luna nods. Celestia levitates the letter up to eye level and unfurls it to read._

 _Dear Princess Celestia,_

 _This is Spike with an update on my studies on friendship. If you think about it, love really is a lot like friendship. Your friendship with somepony can even turn into love, which happened to me (or so I thought). A little while ago, I sort of started having a crush on [Y/N]. Little did I know, there is a big difference between true love and infatuation. True love is forever, and doesn't just appear for vain reasons. Embarrassingly, I tried to put [Y/N] in a situation that she wasn't comfortable with, which really shows little love or respect for her feelings. However, she was able to forgive me, and I'm very grateful for that. For now, I'm content to stick to just being good friends with [Y/N]. Oh, and this is [Y/N] saying that, while Spike wasn't exactly justified in his actions, I should have been mature and level headed about this. I've learned that sometimes other ponies might have a crush on you, but you can't decide how they can or can't feel. When things like that happen, you just have to be kind to them, even if you don't feel the same way._

 _Your subjects, Spike and [Y/N]_

 _Well, I hope you liked this chapter (all you girls, anyway). I actually wrote this chapter to address a real problem that my little sister is facing: crushes. Most kids forget that, even when others have a crush on you, it's your responsibility to continue being nice to them nonetheless. But we've already established that. The series finale, however, will be next, followed by a season 2 of this series. For now, this is Bronygirl6729 saying see ya later!_


	13. Chapter 13

_Chapter Twelve: The War Begins_

 _All right, here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for...the season finale of Crossing Worlds! Yay. I'm going to make this finale a two-parter, though. Also...I'm in New York! It's so pretty right now in the fall and I especially love it because I'm from Florida (aka the State of No Seasons Except Summer) and I never get to see leaves change before. So, yeah. Pretty cool stuff. Also, we're almost to the twenty favorite minimum that I recently established! If just four more people click the favorite button for my story, I will be able to guarantee a second season. So get reading and don't forget to review and favorite!_

 _"That was brilliant!" You look up at Rarity as she runs to hug you, causing small creases to appear in your special dress. "Everypony loved you, not to mention your dress! Can you believe the show sold out?" She squeals excitedly. "I knew this clothing line would be a success, I just knew it!"_

 _You smile, still a bit shaken from walking down the runway. You play back the scene in your mind, of you prancing nervously down the runway in your pink and purple dress as the cameras all around you flashed on and off like a sea of bright lights. "Thank you, Rarity, for everything. This was just like I dreamed."_

 _She smiles sweetly. "Oh, you're so welcome, [Y/N]. It was my pleasure to do all of this for you. I suppose that I should also thank you for that picnic you and Fluttershy surprised me with. The sandwiches were especially tasty, too."_

 _"It was no problem," you assure her happily._

 _"Great performance, [Y/N]!" You turn around to see Twilight and the other four girls trotting towards you and Rarity, also accompanied by Spike and Discord._

 _Pinkie grins and nods quickly. "Yeah, yeah, first you were all like, oh..." She does a nervous pose. "But then you were all like, whoo!" She holds up her head and pretends to strut down a runway. "And then, you struck awesome poses like whoosh, swoosh, yeah!" She quickly moves from one cool pose to the next, ending with her arms crossed coolly._

 _Everypony giggles and you smile happily at everypony. "I'm just so happy that everything turned out so perfectly. It feels like everything is right in the world right now, and I'm just glad that I can enjoy the peacefulness with all of my friends."_

 _Twilight walks up to you and wraps you in a tight hug. "I agree, sis. Now, come on, let's go grab some cupcakes at Sugarcube Corner to celebrate." You nod and everypony else murmurs in agreement. Twilight leads everypony out of the town square where your fashion show had been held and towards the tasty-looking building. As you walk through the large doors, the scent of frosting-filled treats fills your nostrils and you inhale deeply._

 _"Oh, hello everypony." Mrs. Cake looks up from behind the bakery counter. "What can I do for you all today?"_

 _Twilight speaks first. "We'll take seven cupcakes, please."_

 _Spike stands up on his toes to look over the counter. "And I'll have a ruby cupcake."_

 _Discord raises his hand. "Ooh, ooh, and I'll have some cotton candy!"_

 _"Don't forget to add extra dallops of whipped cream!" Pinkie adds loudly._

 _Mrs. Cake grins sweetly, the way a cheery older woman would smile at younger ones. "All righty, I'll have those ready in a jiffy!"_

 _Everypony in your group of friends gradually moves towards a table and sits as they chat. You, however, remain silent. As you take your seat between Twilight and Rarity, your attention strays to the big bakery window. Your friends' voices begin to fade as you watch the sky darken ominously, your ear twitching apprehensively._

 _"Guys, wait," you finally interrupt, your eyes not leaving the window. "Something's not right."_

 _Rainbow Dash tilts her head confusedly. "The pegasus haven't scheduled a storm until next week. I don't get it...who else could be messing with the weather?"_

 _"Maybe the unicorns?" Fluttershy suggests timidly._

 _You stand up, the bright streak of close lightning reflected in your [E/C] eyes. "No. Unicorns wouldn't just start controlling the weather." You step backwards in fear instinctively, perking your sensitive pony ears to listen for something, anything._

 _Everypony jumps as Lily runs in, screaming like a maniac. "The horror, the horror!"_

 _Applejack jumps in front of the terrified pony's path, gripping her shoulders seriously. "What is it, sugarcube? Spit it out!"_

 _Blinking insanely, the pink made opens her shaking jaws. "G-g-gri-griffons!"_

 _"Huh?" You give Twilight a confused look. "Griffons? But I thought ponies had no problems with griffons! Wasn't there even an exchange student program with their kingdom?"_

 _Twilight shakes her head dismissively. "No time for questions. Girls, we have to go to my house and get the Elements of Harmony." She quickly turns to face Spike as everypony stands up. "Spike, I want you to come home with us and write an emergency letter to the Princess. We need to inform her of the danger that we may have to face."_

 _You look around at everypony apprehensively. "Danger? The Elements? What's going on? Why are griffons attacking Ponyville?"_

 _"I'll show you! Look!" Lily runs away from Applejackand to you, pulling a newspaper out of her saddlebag and plopping it on the table. Curiously, you slide it in front of you and read the main title:_

 _Unknown Outside Source Starts a New Griffon Civil War_

 _Recently, a pony of unknown identity and intent invaded the kingdom of Griffania, rallying its already unsettled inhabitants against Equestria. Princess Celestia and Luna have attempted to make peaceful contact and stop the uprising, but failed. However, some griffons did not join this rebellion, but fought against it, causing the entire kingdom to be torn apart in a civil war. The war is said to be very vicious, and Equestrians are encouraged to stay uninvolved. As of last week, the rebellion group, calling themselves Red Hornets, attacked and burnt one of Griffania's biggest cities, Pup's Peak. No survivors have been found._

 _You slam the paper down forcefully, feeling sick to your stomach. As you stand hunched over the table, Twilight walks over and reads the article silently, the other girl looking over her shoulder. Spike and Discord were merely standing in the corner quietly, unsure of what to do. You feel tears prick your eyes, while at the same time your heart is struck with fear._

 _"This is terrible," you whisper, feeling shivers pass through you at the thought of these events taking place._

 _Twilight stands up assertively and runs to the door. "We need to go, girls. Now."_

 _Everypony follows Twilight and Fluttershy turns to Discord. "I'll find you later. You need to get to the cottage where its safe."_

 _"I'm coming with you!" he protests, crossing his arms. "I can protect myself from a few griffons with anger issues."_

 _"What about the 'unknown source' that started this whole mess?" Rainbow points out._

 _"She's right," Fluttershy pushes. "And you need to be home in case all of my animal friends get scared." She puts her hoof on his paw. "You will take care of them for me, won't you?"_

 _"I...guess." The draconequus gives the yellow pegasus one last hug. "Be safe." Without another word, he snaps his fingers and disappears._

 _"All right, let's go," Twilight orders, running out the doors of the bakery into the chaos that used to be the town square. And not the lighthearted, reformed-Discord type chaos. Frightened straggler ponies are running indoors and screaming incoherently. You gulp nervously as you look to the pouring sky. Griffons are standing on the clouds, shrieking their eagle cries at each other. A dark brown one pounding on a nearby cloud looks at you and let's out a furious, piercing scream. You take a step back, praying that griffons don't eat ponies._

 _"Back off!" Rainbow Dash snarls, flying up to the griffon menacingly, but just out of the creature's grasp. She whips her head around swiftly. "Run! I'll be right behind you guys!"_

 _"Let's go!" Twilight yells, picking Spike up on her back. The baby dragon doesn't protest, but merely holds on for dear life. You follow everypony through the maze of griffons and dark, stormy clouds. As you run past, some griffons notice you and your friends and begin to crash themselves down onto their clouds, causing the dark clouds to rumble loudly and sprout flashes of lightning. You bite your lip nervously as one flash nearly catches you, searing the tip of your tail slightly. You start sprinting as soon as your tree house comes into view. Panting, you and the girls burst through the door and onto the floor in a big, tired, colorful heap._

 _"Wait." Applejack stands up warily, looking out the door. "I reckon we're missing somepony. There's only seven of us, including Spike."_

 _Fluttershy's face turns from confusion to shock. "Wait, where's Rainbow Dash?" Everypony looks all around for the rainbow mare, but she is nowhere in sight._

 _"She's not here!" you fret._

 _"Oh my gosh! Rainbow is a...griffon hostage!" Pinkie screams._

 _Rarity collapses on a couch. "Of all the things that could happen, this is the. Worst. Possible. Thing!"_

 _"Um, where did you get that couch?" Spike asks._

 _Twilight steps forward. "It doesn't matter. We need to find Rainbow Dash, she could be in-" A loud eagle shriek interrupts Twilight. As you look out the open door, you see a few large griffons descending from their clouds and approaching the door._

 _"Shut the door!" Spike yells._

 _"No, Rainbow Dash is still out there, we need to go back and help her!" Twilight commands._

 _"We won't be much help to Rainbow if we're in some griffon's stomach!" Applejack counters._

 _"Griffons don't eat ponies, smarty pants!" Pinkie retorts._

 _Applejack whips around to face Pinkie Pie nose-to-nose. "Who ya calling a smarty pants, smarty pants?" The two mares continue to bicker, and the other four also join in the argument with their strong opinions. Your eyes, however, never leave the griffons that continue to slowly advance on you._

 _"Um, guys?" you squeak, pointing at the approaching griffons with your [B/C] hoof._

 _"No time to argue!" You decide at the last minute to take the lead. "We can help Rainbow Dash after we deal with these griffons!" The girls and Spike stare at you in surprise. You swallow your self conciousness and fear. "That's an order! Close and lock the door!"_

 _"Well, you heard her! Close it!" Applejack supports._

 _Twilight looks at you non-submissively. "But Rainbow Dash-"_

 _"Will be fine." You put a hoof on her shoulder and look her in the eye comfortingly. "You know Rainbow Dash. She can take care of herself for a few minutes. Once we're safe and have this whole thing figured out, we can find Rainbow. Ok?" Twilight, still upset, nods compliantly. You can feel the surprised looks of your friends at you, but you ignore them. As you turn around, you hear the satisfying click of the door shutting and locking._

 _Spike turns around from closing the door, his arms crossed. "Ok, we're safe inside. Now what, Princesses?"_

 _You turn to look at him. "Spike, you need to write a warning letter to the Princess. Make sure to include all the details."_

 _He grabs a blank scroll and quill, managing to smirk at you. "You're so cute when you're assertive."_

 _Rolling your [E/C] eyes, you turn to the remaining five girls. "All right, we need to find some way to stop the griffons and identify this 'unknown source.'"_

 _"And how will we do that?" Pinkie Pie questions._

 _"I have no idea!"_

 _Rainbow Dash opens her red eyes to see nothing but blackness. A sharp pain shoots through her head, but as she reaches up to rub her forehead, she notices that she's completely tied to a chair. As she tries to flap her wings frantically, Rainbow finds that they are tied as well._

 _"What's going on here?" she growls. "Get out here! Coward!" As soon as the words are out of her mouth, she wishes that she could take them back. As evil as they are, griffons like these can be pretty scary and mean, she thinks, her fear building. I really shouldn't mess with these guys...they could kill me if they wanted to! The mere thought of this causes the hair on the back of Rainbow's neck to stand up straight. However, her thoughts are interrupted by voices chatting quietly in the darkness. After a moment, a tall silhouette appears in front of Rainbow and a light above her clicks on._

 _"Dash?" the voice asks, puzzled. Rainbow Dash looks up in shock at the familiar voice._

 _"Gilda?"_

 _The golden griffon steps into the light with a surprised face. "How the hay did you get captured?"_

 _Rainbow Dash smiles innocently, feeling much more comfortable despite her last encounter with Gilda. "I don't suppose that I ever told you that I'm the Element of Loyalty?"_

 _Gilda nods slowly. "That would explain it."_

 _"'It?' What do you mean, 'it?'"_

 _"Well, you do know that the other guys sent me here to interrogate you." She gazes at her old friend with expressionless yellow eyes._

 _Feeling her panic suddenly rising again, Rainbow squirms around uncomfortably. "C'mon, Gilds, you're my friend. You can just go tell the other griffons that we're chill and everything can be fine."_

 _The griffon smirks lightly, as if listening to the ramblings of a naïve child. "Sorry, Dash, but..." She points to a symbol of a bright red hornet that looks like it was burnt onto her flank. "...I'm a Red Hornet now. And we're tired of how unfairly Equestria has been treated us. You've showed me that firsthand. All ponies are the same. Except for one. Our leader, the one that assembled us. Reptantis."_

 _The rainbow mare's eyes widen. "Gilda, no, you can't listen to her, she's crazy! Not to mention dangerous. She's only using you!"_

 _Gilda's eyes narrow aggressively. "You know, Rainbow Dash, it's just like you to diss the first pony that actually stands by me. Sorry, but the Hive comes first now. I'm finally where I belong." She walks up to her ex-friend menacingly, slamming her claws against the two sides of the chair. "Now, tell me where the Elements are. And...the Golden Crown."_

 _"Ok, I think I have an idea," you announce, trying to stay optimistic. "We can just use the Elements of Harmony to stop the griffons, right?"_

 _Twilight shakes her head. "The Elements should only be used if we can't convince the Red Hornets to stop their attack. Who knows, they could be being forced to do this."_

 _"I don't know about that." You tense up at the sound of griffons trying to rip through the tree but failing because Twilight had cast a protection spell on your house earlier. "I think that, in order to stop this, we need to find and confront the leader of the Red Hornets. If we stop their leader, we stop all of the griffons."_

 _Applejack looks at you thoughtfully. "That's a good idea, sugarcube, but how can we find the leader without getting attacked by them griffons? We would at least need a good idea of where the leader is. Without even that, we'd be good as gone."_

 _"Well..." Twilight begins. "I suppose I could try to use a location spell to pinpoint the location of this pony... ugh, but we would need to know who their leader is to use that spell!"_

 _Pinkie raises her hoof excitedly. "Ooh, ooh, I can be a spy and find out who the leader is and where she is! I can use my Fluttershy suit!"_

 _Fluttershy gives Pinkie Pie an odd look. "You...have a me suit?"_

 _"Pinkie Pie has suits of all of us, Fluttershy," Spike says calmly from the library desk._

 _"Any reply from the Princess yet, Spike?" you ask._

 _He shakes his head. "No, she hasn't done anything! Not a letter, not reinforcements, nothing! What is she doing up in Canterlot, sitting contently behind a business desk while our entire town is being invaded by these...these...lion birds!?" He huffs a ring of smoke angrily._

 _"Spike, we're frustrated and anxious too," you console the young dragon. "But we have to be patient. The Princesses are probably busy getting ready to fly over here and kick some griffon flank themselves. I'm sure of it!"_

 _"Search through the entire castle. Don't miss a thing." The last if the sun disappears behind dark red clouds, spread out as far as the eye can see. Reptantis smiles._

 _"You won't get away with this, Repta," Celestia hisses from the shadows where she is slowly being encased in a thick layer of ice. Luna is standing next to her in the same predicament._

 _Reptantis casually strolls up to the stiff Princesses and sticks her nose in Celestia's face. "Watch me." She laughs evilly, her gaze drifting around the throne room. Reptantis smirks at the pictures engraved in the colorful palace windows of all of the Element keepers defeating threats and doing other heroic feats. "I think my stained glass window can go right...here." She stops in front of a blank window. However, as she notices another window, her smile fades. Engraved in the light blue glass is a picture of a certain draconequus standing under the Elements with a look of joy and peace on his face. Reptantis growls, her fury rising as her burning yellow slits continue to be subjected to the happy, harmonious Discord. In one swift blow, the dark alicorn yells out and drives her hooves through the window, shattering the pieces of shiny glass across the floor._

 _"Repta, stop!" Celestia yells, the freezing ice already creeping up her neck. "You need to let your hate go! It will only hurt you and innocent others!"_

 _Reptantis turns to glare at the Princess. "I don't care about 'innocent others.' They're merely obstacles that are in my way. But Celestia, I swear to you, I will kill those ponies and that...that...monster! Because as far as I'm concerned, my Discord is dead. So are you, and Luna! And I don't mind killing those that I don't know."_

 _"Well, if Twilight can't find the leader..." You put your hoof to your chin thoughtfully. "Maybe Discord can!"_

 _"He is good with abstract magic..." Twilight considers this. "I suppose that it wouldn't hurt to try. Here, I'll teleport him here so that we don't have to run through the storm again." Everypony takes a big step back as your sister closes her eyes and her horn begins to glow. A blinding circular light appears in the center of your group and is then replaced by a terrified draconequus. You have to admit, you're a bit shocked at his mental state. Normally, Discord is your average sarcastic, fun mix of creatures. Currently, his mane is frazzled and his eyes look fear-struck. You get the feeling that he's really more scared than he let's on._

 _Blinking, he looks around his new surroundings. "What? How did I get here? What's going on?!" Discord whips his pony head around wildly, his red eyes merely glazing over you. In his eagle claw, he is visibly clutching a small bunny._

 _Fluttershy approaches him meekly. "Discord, it's ok. It's just us. We brought you here because we need help." The white bunny squirms out of Discord's hand and jumps up into Fluttershy's arms._

 _Discord shakes his head rapidly, the strong look of fear still imprinted on his face. "No, no, no. I can't! I just can't!" He looks close to tears and you can practically hear his fast-paced heartbeat from across the room._

 _Fluttershy puts her hoof on his eagle claw comfortingly. "Sweetie, it's ok, calm down. Why are you so afraid?" The draconequus begins to shake, and he doesn't answer the pegasus. She looks at him seriously with her teal eyes. "We need all the help we can get. Discord, please, all you need to do is locate the leader of the Red Hornets for us, nothing else."_

 _His eyes widen. "What? You mean you don't know who the leader of this attack is?" Everypony shakes their head no. Discord stiffens, and then runs around the house frantically, checking out all of the windows while hyperventilating. "Oh Celestia, she probably knows where we are already. You need to get somewhere safe, somewhere far away from here."_

 _"Discord, snap out of it!" Twilight screams. "Who is the leader? What are you talking about?"_

 _Discord gazes at all of you hysterically. "Isn't it obvious? The leader of the Red Hornets is-" Discord is cut off as an ear-piercing explosion sounds and knocks you off your hooves, sending you spiraling off into the air. For a moment, everything moves in slow motion. You feel tears streaming down your face, and as you look to your side, you see all of your friends screaming as they're propelled through the air with you. Discord is nowhere in sight. Suddenly, your path begins to descend and your [B/C] body collides with the ground. A sharp pain shoots through your body and eventually numbs and engulfs it. The last thing that you see is a dark red pair of wings flying towards you before you pass out._

 _End of part one...yeah, I'm pretty sure that all of you guys hate me now. I'm actually going to have to raise my rating to T because of this chapter. I don't know, it just seems a little dark to be rated anything under this. Better safe than sorry, I guess. Anyway, I guess I'll be seeing all of you again soon for part two...this is Bronygirl6729 saying have fun waiting for the next chapter. *Troll face*_


	14. Chapter 14

_Chapter Thirteen: Never Loose Faith_

 _All right guys, this is it. Get ready for the your (hopefully) amazing ending to Crossing World. No matter what, I promise to TRY to make a second season. Just saying. But without further ado, let us all celebrate and enjoy chapter thirteen._

 _A sharp pain in your back jolts you awake. You tense up in angst and pain, not daring to attempt to move your body one inch. However, you manage to open your eyes and look around. The room is dark, and it takes a moment for your [E/C] eyes to adjust. As soon as your surroundings become visible, you see shadows of your five pony friends all tied to chairs. Your senses suddenly snap into defense mode and, ignoring the gut-wrenching pain, you try to flap your wings, only to find them tied too._

 _"Twilight," you croak, finally finding your hoarse voice. "Fluttershy? Applejack? Somepony...!" Tears fall from your eyes as terror overwhelms you. You begin to recount the memories of Discord's mental breakdown, the explosion, and those red wings hovering above you._

 _"I'm here," a voice finally answers. Twilight slowly lifts her purple head to look at you. "Are you ok, [Y/N]?"_

 _"I think I might've done something to my back," you whisper strenuously. "What about you and the others? Wait, where's Spike and Discord?"_

 _"I'm here," a familiar rainbow mare says. Before, it hadn't really registered in your mind that Rainbow Dash was with you, but now you realize that the pegasus had been captured before you._

 _"Ok, if you're here, say 'aye,'" you command, raising your voice as much as you can. "Fluttershy."_

 _"I'm here..." You look over to one of the room's corners to see Fluttershy crying softly to herself. Your heart breaks for her, since you understand her fears for herself and her friends._

 _You look around for the remaining ponies. "Rarity? Applejack?"_

 _"Present and accounted for," a voice with a posh accent says quietly._

 _"I'm ok, I guess," Applejacks grunts, struggling to look over at you._

 _"Pinkie Pie?" you call. Your ears perk as no reply is heard. "Pinkie? Are you there? Please answer!" Still no answer._

 _"Perhaps she escaped," Rarity suggests._

 _"I hope so, for her sake," Twilight murmurs darkly._

 _"Wh-where's Discord?" Fluttershy asks nervously, as if she just realized that he was missing._

 _"I haven't seen Discord or Spike..." You grimace, pondering the situation at hand._

 _"What is it that he was sayin' right before the...explosion?" Applejack questions. "He looked mighty scared...I think he knew what was gonna happen."_

 _"He said that the identity of the Red Hornets' leader was obvious..." Twilight echoes._

 _You sit in the rigid chair, your mind hard at work as you try to figure everything out. Red wings...obvious...what if...no, it couldn't be, could it?_

 _"You ok, sugarcube?" AJ asks you._

 _You open your jaws hesitantly. "I...I think I know who the leader of the Red Hornets is..."_

 _"Indeed you do," a raspy voice cackles. The mere sound is enough to cause a shiver to run through your body. You keep your head facing down against the metallic voice. Suddenly, her dark hoof appears under your chin, tilting your head up forcefully to face her. "It's rude to not look somepony in the eye when they're speaking to you." You slowly raise your eyes to look at Reptantis. "That's better," she purrs, dropping her hoof roughly._

 _"What do you want?" Applejack growls._

 _"And where's Spike?" Twilight yells._

 _"And Discord?" Fluttershy adds protectively._

 _Reptantis chuckles. "Applejack, I thought you were the smart, reasonable one. You of all ponies should know why I'm here and you're all captured." She turns to Twilight and Fluttershy. "As for your...ugh...friends, they're safe don't worry." A smile spreads across her face. "Of course, safety is only temporary. Imagine the things that I could do to them! Oh, idea! Imagine the poor, defenseless draconequus and dragon, killed mercilessly in front of their friends, who are helpless to stop it from happening."_

 _"I'll kill her!" Rainbow yells, aggressively trying to flap her wings and escape._

 _"And how will you do that?" Reptantis smiles smugly._

 _"We can use the Elements, now that we know that you're the leader of the Red Hornets!" Twilight threatens._

 _The dark red alicorn gasps. "Me? Leader of the Red Hornets? I have no idea where you would come up with such a preposterous idea, Ms. Sparkle." Her face turns into a sneer. "Stupid ponies. You had all of the evidence in front of you and you were too blind to see it."_

 _Anger bubbles deep inside of you. This beast has tried to murder me as a baby, threatened my friends, and captured all of us! She is evil! "We're not afraid of you!" you growl, looking up at her with fury replacing fear. "We can just utilize the Elements of Harmony, just like everypony has done before!"_

 _Reptantis merely glances at you, uninterested. "Oh, look. Somepony found their voice. And...actually..." She puts her hoof to her chin as if deep in thought. "You seem to be missing your Element of Laughter. I thought it looked a little gloomy. Also, where are your Elements anyway? I haven't seen any Golden Crowns around here in ages..." She slams her hoof down, alarming everypony. "Now, where are the Elements and the Crown?"_

 _"We don't know, you sort of wrecked Ponyville!" you snap._

 _"Oh, so they are in Ponyville?" Reptantis smiles, satisfied._

 _You furrow your brow defiantly, though not sure what to say back. Oops. Ugh, stupid, stupid, stupid! How the hay did she trick me? If we want to win, we'll need to out-trick the trickster... You calm down and clear your mind, careful to keep your wits about you._

 _"Ruffian! You can't do this!" Rarity huffs furiously._

 _"Yes, she can," you reply coolly. "It's obvious that we've been beaten, so things will be much easier if we just give her what she wants." For a moment, the room goes silent, and you can practically feel the shocked eyes of your friends boring into your head._

 _Reptantis laughs evilly. "See? Even your precious Princess can see that you've all been defeated. You know what? If you hand over the Elements of Harmony and the Golden Crown, I won't kill you girls or those other two." Her ear twitches slightly as she finishes the end of her sentence. She's lying._

 _"[Y/N], what are you doing?" Twilight gasps._

 _You dismiss your sister. "I'm sorry, but I've made my choice and you can't change my mind." You merely close your eyes and lift your snout slightly, showing that you're done talking about the subject._

 _"You can't be serious!" Rainbow Dash shouts._

 _"Good girl," Reptantis purrs. "When you help me, only good things will come." She lowers her head swiftly and aims her horn at you and your friends. You flinch, sure that she will vaporize you. Instead, as red fog seeps out of her horn and begins to surround you, your back pain melts away, along with any other scratches and bruises that you had acquired in the explosion. The ropes fall off of your body and you stand up, completely healed. The smoke begins to fade and you see your friends healed, but still tied. Reptantis walks up to Twilight, feigning kindness and sincerity. "Twilight, you realize that this is only the tip of the iceberg. I can do far more. I could even teach you and [Y/N] some of my tricks. All you have to do is show me where the Elements are. Think about it. All of you could be princesses in my kingdom."_

 _"We don't care! We'll never help you!" Twilight persists. She then turns to you, her eyes tearing up. "Please, sister. Don't do this."_

 _You look at her expressionlessly. "I told you, my choice is made. You can all join me and everything will be ok."You look at your sister with a meaningful face that only she can decipher. Suddenly, it's as if a switch in Twilight's mind flips and a lock clicks._

 _"You know what? [Y/N] is right." As Twilight says this, the ropes fall off of her and she walks over to stand next to you._

 _"But, Twilight-" Fluttershy protests._

 _"No, Fluttershy." Twilight lifts her snout up. "Girls, we have to join together if we want to get out of this, and this is the only way." She looks down at all of your friends the same way that you had looked at her. After a moment, they realize that it's an act and join in._

 _"Well, Twilight and [Y/N] are our Princesses..." Applejack pretends to ponder._

 _"We need to be loyal to the Princesses, don't we?" Rainbow Dash points out_

 _Rarity tilts her head as if thoroughly contemplating the idea. "I suppose that we do."_

 _"Ok, we'll join you," Fluttershy announces._

 _"Excellent!" Reptantis smiles as the ropes release all of your friends. You and your friends all exchange a similar evil smile, but for different reasons than the red reptilian pony. She turns to you, confident that she has won. "Now, show me where the Elements are."_

 _"Right this way," you smile, leading everypony out of the dark room and into a hallway with a door leading outside at the end of the hall. You step out of the doors and into the storm. Griffons, still guarding Ponyville from their clouds, watch your every move with hawk-like sight. As you look around the remains of your town, you see that everypony has hidden themselves away inside their houses. As you make your way to Twilight's tree, you don't even notice that your smile had faded into an anxious frown, your ears flat against your head as you look at the griffons' razor sharp beaks._

 _"The tree?" Reptantis questions you warily._

 _You gulp, praying that nothing goes wrong. "Yeah, you know, so that we could watch them closely, heh, you know?"_

 _For a moment, the alicorn's slits bore into your eyes, but they quickly break contact as she looks up to the clouds. "I need two of you, front and center!" she yells commandingly. Two large griffons quickly drop down in front of her, a male and female. Reptantis smiles slightly, satisfied with them. "You two will do. Just make sure that these girls don't try anything that they might regret. Oh, and you have my permission to use deadly force."_

 _"Yes, my Queen," they say simultaneously, doing a swift bow._

 _You exchange glances with all the girls. The plan (which was hardly even a plan as much as a hope before) was now completely unraveled. Everypony knew not to cross griffons, especially not griffons as strong and devoted as the two in front of you. Pushing by you, Reptantis walks in the tree, the griffons following._

 _"New plan," you whisper, barely audible. "Grab your Element as quick as you can and put it on."_

 _"Mortals! Come in, now." Reptantis' scratchy voice makes you jump, but you quickly make your way inside, your friends following you. As you look up, your breath catches in your throat. The dark red alicorn stands over the glass case that houses the Elements of Harmony as well as your Golden Crown. She licks her lips confidently, as if she were ready to devour the artifacts that could easily stop her in her tracks._

 _"You should probably let us handle the Elements," you insist, stepping in front of her protectively. "You wouldn't want to be burned by them or anything." You plaster on a forced smile with a squee._

 _"Shut up, I don't need your concern. I only need your Crown..." She swats you aside as if you were a filly, sending you tumbling head over heels. Sitting up swiftly, you grit your teeth at the mare in frustration, humiliation, and apprehension. You lose your breath as Reptantis slowly removes the glass protection over the Elements, an evil smile plastered on her face. If she gets her hooves on those, Equestria is doomed. No, no, no!Pushing all elaborate planning and common sense aside, you dodge in between the two griffons._

 _"[Y/N], wait!" You ignore Twilight's warning. Instead, you leap at Reptantis' turned back. As soon as you're close enough to reach out and grab her if you wanted to, the dark red alicorn turns around, her yellow slits now a burning red. The air is knocked out of you as she grabs you by the throat with her magic. Your heartbeat increasing, you writhe around in midair, flapping your wings frantically in an attempt to loosen her grip on your windpipe._

 _"Bad decision," the reptilian creature snarls, tightening her choking hold on your throat. In the distance you can hear your friends yelling as they try to push past the griffons. All you can see, however, is Reptantis' smug face as she proceeds to squeeze the life out of you. Suddenly, a high-pitched voice rings through your ears._

 _"Hey, you big meanie! Put my friend down!" Before you can react, Reptantis' hold on you disappears completely and you drop to the floor in a colorful heap, gasping for air. You raise your [E/C] eyes to see Pinkie Pie and Spike standing behind you and in front of the griffons. While the griffons are distracted, your other five friends hit the griffons on the back of the head with heavy information books, causing them to fall to the floor, unconscious. Pinkie smiles confidently. "I used my Pinkie Sense to avoid the explosion and save these two," she announces._

 _"What?" Reptantis looks around the room as you suddenly gain the upper hand. She quickly turns around towards the case and reaches for the Elements, only to see that Discord is holding them and your Golden Crown is sitting lopsided on his head._

 _"Too late," he remarks. He then looks at you, grabs the Crown off his head, and tosses it on your head. As soon as the Golden Crown is safely resting on your head, you turn to Reptantis, power coursing through your veins. Discord swiftly tosses the Elements of Harmony to all of your friends who put their Elements on without hesitation._

 _"Stay back!" Reptantis growls, stepping back fearfully. Her slits dart back and forth as she tries to formulate a plan._

 _"Give it up." You lead all of your friends in approaching her, Spike and Discord standing off to the side but ready to help. Reptantis' eyes eventually come to rest on Spike and she quickly leaps forward and grabs by the scales._

 _"Don't come any closer! I'm not afraid to hurt him!" she barks menacingly._

 _"Spikey-wikey!" Rarity cries. You halt, frozen in your steps. The red alicorn smiles, comfortable now that she has the advantage._

 _Reptantis turns to glare at you, Spike still tightly in her grasp. "Now to deal with you!" You yell out in fear as the too-familiar red fog begins to surround you. Suddenly, your vision goes black._

 _You open your eyes to see a small, one-window room. You gasp and look around the apartment, your breathing beginning to speed up. You look down and can't believe your eyes. You have your hands back, as well as your human body._

 _"Twilight?!" you scream frantically. "Spike?! Fluttershy! Where is everypony?"_

 _"What the-" You whip your head around to see your human mother standing in the doorway. "[Y/N]! Oh my God, I can't believe it!" She runs over and wraps you in a large hug, tears streaming down her face. "W-we thought that you had been kidnapped, or-or killed, but you're safe!"_

 _You jerk out of the hug, shaking your head in confusion. "Where is everypony? Where's my sister?"_

 _Your mother looks at you confusedly. "What? Ponies? Your sister? [Y/N], what are you talking about? You don't have a sister, sweetie."_

 _You continue to shake your head, everything beginning to overwhelm you. "No, this isn't happening! This can't be happening..." Clutching your head madly, you run out of your room, down the apartment stairs, and out of the building, ignoring any traffic as you cross the street and sprint towards the statue in front of Equestria High School. After what seems like forever, you slam into the statue and fall down on the ground. You quickly recover and begin insanely banging on the section of the statue where the portal would be, only to hit hard concrete. However, whenever you inflict a blow on the statue, you see a slight red shimmer glass over the surface of the portal. Your fists bleeding and tears streaming down your face, you slump down in a pitiful pile._

 _"[Y/N] are you insane?" Your mother's angry voice rings in your human ears, but you can't even lift your eyes to look at her. "You can't just run outside and into traffic! You never...even..." Her voice trails off as she sees your distress._

 _"It's gone," you say, your voice cracking. "Everypony is gone." Suddenly, something clangs onto the ground in front of your lowered head. You look up in shock to see your Golden Crown sitting in front of you. Slowly, you reach to pick it up, fearful that the Crown is merely a cruel mirage. You give a small gasp as your fingers grip the cool gold plating. "It can't be..." Turning the artifact over and around in your hands, you feel every familiar swirl, every gem-encrusted tip and lining._

 _"What is..." your human mother steps forward to gaze at the mesmerizing magical Crown._

 _"My Crown," you murmur, your spirits rising. "My Golden Crown!" Smiling, you place it on your head and imagine Equestria and your friends. You remember all of the lessons that you learned, the adventures you had, you ponies you met. "And...my friends." You feel the spark of the Elements ignite inside if you, a spark that causes your ears to ring and your heart to stop. You close your eyes, and when you open them, your cutie mark reflects in your eyes and a white flash zaps across your vision._

 _You open your [E/C] eyes, your regular feelings restored. As soon as your blurred vision clears, you look down to see that you're back in pony form. You open your wings ecstatically, bending and twirling around in pure happiness. You don't even notice your mother standing next to you._

 _"What's going on?!" Her shocked voice makes you jump. You look over at her to see a pastel red unicorn with dark brown hair and large red-brown eyes staring back at you._

 _"Mom?" you choke out in surprise._

 _She looks behind you fearfully and pushes you down with her. "Look out!" You stumble to the ground as a griffon jumps over your head, shrieking. Your Crown falls to the ground and you quickly scramble towards it, reaching out to grab its glimmering gold surface._

 _"What is it? What have you found?" As the voice sounds, you quickly snatch up your Golden Crown and sit up to come face to face with Reptantis. Her yellow slits flicker in shock, but she then replaces it with fury. "What? How the hay did you get back?" The alicorn shakes her dark red head. "It doesn't matter. I can just kill you now." She points her horn at you and the red fog begins to leak out. You place your Crown on your head, but for once, you are lost. Oh, where is everypony? I need them...wait. My friends! You step back defensively, close your eyes, and concentrate, feeling magic emanating from your horn. When you open your eyes, all eight of your friends are sitting in a surprised pile in front of you._

 _"No time for any questions!" you order as the mist moves menacingly closer to you. "Get your Elements ready, girls!" The six ponies, all wearing their Elements, jump onto their hooves and stand by your side. Discord and Spike step back next to your mother, ready to assist if need be._

 _Reptantis grips her teeth and steps up right in front of your face. "Listen, I've had just about enough of you. You've degraded everything that I stand for, but what do you even stand for? Harmony? Harmony is for the weak." Her fog quickly rushes forward, pushing the other six girls away and sending them stumbling in the dirt. A red magical force field appears above you, cutting your friends off from fog wraps around your midsection and throat, lifting you up to stare nose-to-nose with Reptantis. "I am not an insect. You are the bug that needs to be..." The fog squeezes the air out of you. "...squashed. Now I can finally do what I should done many years ago!" As the fog continues to suffocate you, you find yourself looking downing at the ground in defeat. It's over. My friends are helpless now, just like me. I'll have to die slowly in front of my mother and friends. One last small tear escapes your eyes. As it contacts the ground, a lightbulb snaps inside of you and you begin to recall the many other times that your friends have been there for you and helped you. They've never let me down...and I can never lose faith that they will be there for me._

 _You raise your eyes to meet Reptantis' slits. "No," you croak exhaustedly. Suddenly, the surroundings around you begin to shatter like broken glass. You drop, the force field breaks into a million tiny pieces, and Reptantis is blasted away, screaming hysterically. Your ignore the pain in your muscles and stand up, disheveled. You begin to stagger and lean to the side, but you suddenly are steadied by Twilight. She smiles at you lovingly and pridefully, giving you a small nuzzle._

 _"You did it," she whispers._

 _"Wait." You move off of your sister's shoulder and run off in the direction that Reptantis was blasted, not stopping to answer everypony's shouts. You hear them follow you, but don't turn around. A gorge suddenly appears in front of you and you rapidly skid to a stop. Your ears perk as you hear grunting from the cliffside. You peek your head down to see the red reptilian pony struggling to hold onto a ledge. Her right wing dangles limply, obviously broken. As you look at the river running through the gorge, that same dizzy feeling overcomes you again._

 _"It's too high," Twilight says, now beside you. "Leave her." You look at your sister defiantly, open your wings, and jump off of the ledge, causing everypony to scream. You reach out and grab the side of the cliff, flapping your wings to balance yourself. You begin climbing down face-first, your hooves gripping the slanted ledges. As soon as you're close enough to reach the dangling alicorn, you reach your hoof out earnestly._

 _"Grab my hoof!" you yell over the roar of the rushing river far below._

 _Reptantis gives you a look of pure and utter hatred. "Never. I'll never get help from the likes of you!" Your [E/C] eyes widen as Reptantis pulls her hoof back and begins to fall to the river below._

 _"No!" you gasp, reaching out farther as if you could just snatch her out of the air. But by then, it's too late. You look away as she hits the water hard. Your heart pounding, you fly up to your friends who were watching you on top of the cliff. You look at the ground sadly. "I tried."_

 _Discord sighs sadly. "Oh, Repta. You brought this on yourself."_

 _Twilight smiles and wraps you in a large, comforting hug. "I love you, sis." You smile back, your eyes tearing up. The other girls join in on the hug, eventually followed by Discord and Spike. After a few moments, everypony steps back and your mom steps in front of you._

 _She smiles proudly and puts a tender hoof on your shoulder. "You belong here."_

 _"You could too," you offer._

 _Your mother shakes her head. "No, I belong in the real world. But I can be happy now that I know that you're safe and happy here."_

 _You smile. "Did I mention that I'm a princess?" She laughs and hugs you. You move over to stand by Twilight. "This is my sister."_

 _Twilight shakes your mother's hoof. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. It's great to finally meet you."_

 _You point at everypony else. "These are all of my other friends: Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Spike, and Discord."_

 _"It's great to meet all of you," your mom says._

 _"Congratulations, my little ponies." You look up to see Princess Celestia flying above you. She lands softly on the ground, Princess Luna at her side. "You've fulfilled your destiny and saved Equestria." She turns her head to look at you. "Faith is a magic within itself. As long as you never lose faith in your friends, you can defeat any obstacles in your way." She turns to your mother. "As for you, we can send you back to the human world tonight."_

 _Your mother looks up at Celestia uncertainly "I'm sorry, but who are you?"_

 _Celestia laughs. "Forgive me. My name is Princess Celestia, and this is my sister Princess Luna. We are the main rulers of Equestria. We have a mirror that can transport you back to where you came from."_

 _She nods solemnly. "Oh, yes. I'll come with you." Your mom turns to you, tears in her eyes. "I'm going to miss you so much, and I just want you to know that I'll always love you." She embraces you tightly._

 _You hug her back, your eyes watering. "I love you too." After too short of a time, you pull away and your mother climbs into the Princesses' chariot. The guards begins to run and pull her away and you wave until her unicorn figure is gone._

 _"What now?" Pinkie Pie speaks up first._

 _"Well..." You look up to the sky as the screeching of griffons fill the air as the Red Hornets take to flight. "Now that the griffons are gone, I'd say that cleaning up Ponyville might be a good idea." You look over to the broken town as the first ray of sunlight returns from behind the now-fading clouds._

 _"I'm up for a challenge," Rainbow Dash agrees, a smile fluttering back to her face._

 _"Me too," Twilight agrees._

 _A daring smile works its way onto your face. "Then what are we waiting for?" You walk off towards Ponyville, your home. Your friends all follow you, backing you up on each of your sides. My friends. My home. My life. It all makes sense now. Now I can finally be somewhere that I really belong. This is my destiny. And I'm not going to miss a second of it. Still grinning, you begin to run, the wind blowing through your [H/C] mane. You hear the hoofbeats of the other six girls, as well as Discord and Spike. You stop on the top of a small hill overlooking Ponyville and turn around to look at everypony. "Hey, did you know you're all my very best friends?"_

 _Twilight smiles. "And you're our best friend too."_

 _Aw, so many feels! I'm so happy about my first Fanfiction. This really has turned out so much better than I ever could've imagined. This story has grown so much over the chapters, as have I. I would like to thank all of my readers for bearing with me for thirteen chapters and I hope that your story can continue. Well, this is Bronygirl6729 signing off of Crossing Worlds for now. Have even more amazing adventures in Equestria!_


	15. Chapter 15

_Chapter Thirteen: Never Loose Faith_

 _All right guys, this is it. Get ready for the your (hopefully) amazing ending to Crossing World. No matter what, I promise to TRY to make a second season. Just saying. But without further ado, let us all celebrate and enjoy chapter thirteen._

 _A sharp pain in your back jolts you awake. You tense up in angst and pain, not daring to attempt to move your body one inch. However, you manage to open your eyes and look around. The room is dark, and it takes a moment for your [E/C] eyes to adjust. As soon as your surroundings become visible, you see shadows of your five pony friends all tied to chairs. Your senses suddenly snap into defense mode and, ignoring the gut-wrenching pain, you try to flap your wings, only to find them tied too._

 _"Twilight," you croak, finally finding your hoarse voice. "Fluttershy? Applejack? Somepony...!" Tears fall from your eyes as terror overwhelms you. You begin to recount the memories of Discord's mental breakdown, the explosion, and those red wings hovering above you._

 _"I'm here," a voice finally answers. Twilight slowly lifts her purple head to look at you. "Are you ok, [Y/N]?"_

 _"I think I might've done something to my back," you whisper strenuously. "What about you and the others? Wait, where's Spike and Discord?"_

 _"I'm here," a familiar rainbow mare says. Before, it hadn't really registered in your mind that Rainbow Dash was with you, but now you realize that the pegasus had been captured before you._

 _"Ok, if you're here, say 'aye,'" you command, raising your voice as much as you can. "Fluttershy."_

 _"I'm here..." You look over to one of the room's corners to see Fluttershy crying softly to herself. Your heart breaks for her, since you understand her fears for herself and her friends._

 _You look around for the remaining ponies. "Rarity? Applejack?"_

 _"Present and accounted for," a voice with a posh accent says quietly._

 _"I'm ok, I guess," Applejacks grunts, struggling to look over at you._

 _"Pinkie Pie?" you call. Your ears perk as no reply is heard. "Pinkie? Are you there? Please answer!" Still no answer._

 _"Perhaps she escaped," Rarity suggests._

 _"I hope so, for her sake," Twilight murmurs darkly._

 _"Wh-where's Discord?" Fluttershy asks nervously, as if she just realized that he was missing._

 _"I haven't seen Discord or Spike..." You grimace, pondering the situation at hand._

 _"What is it that he was sayin' right before the...explosion?" Applejack questions. "He looked mighty scared...I think he knew what was gonna happen."_

 _"He said that the identity of the Red Hornets' leader was obvious..." Twilight echoes._

 _You sit in the rigid chair, your mind hard at work as you try to figure everything out. Red wings...obvious...what if...no, it couldn't be, could it?_

 _"You ok, sugarcube?" AJ asks you._

 _You open your jaws hesitantly. "I...I think I know who the leader of the Red Hornets is..."_

 _"Indeed you do," a raspy voice cackles. The mere sound is enough to cause a shiver to run through your body. You keep your head facing down against the metallic voice. Suddenly, her dark hoof appears under your chin, tilting your head up forcefully to face her. "It's rude to not look somepony in the eye when they're speaking to you." You slowly raise your eyes to look at Reptantis. "That's better," she purrs, dropping her hoof roughly._

 _"What do you want?" Applejack growls._

 _"And where's Spike?" Twilight yells._

 _"And Discord?" Fluttershy adds protectively._

 _Reptantis chuckles. "Applejack, I thought you were the smart, reasonable one. You of all ponies should know why I'm here and you're all captured." She turns to Twilight and Fluttershy. "As for your...ugh...friends, they're safe don't worry." A smile spreads across her face. "Of course, safety is only temporary. Imagine the things that I could do to them! Oh, idea! Imagine the poor, defenseless draconequus and dragon, killed mercilessly in front of their friends, who are helpless to stop it from happening."_

 _"I'll kill her!" Rainbow yells, aggressively trying to flap her wings and escape._

 _"And how will you do that?" Reptantis smiles smugly._

 _"We can use the Elements, now that we know that you're the leader of the Red Hornets!" Twilight threatens._

 _The dark red alicorn gasps. "Me? Leader of the Red Hornets? I have no idea where you would come up with such a preposterous idea, Ms. Sparkle." Her face turns into a sneer. "Stupid ponies. You had all of the evidence in front of you and you were too blind to see it."_

 _Anger bubbles deep inside of you. This beast has tried to murder me as a baby, threatened my friends, and captured all of us! She is evil! "We're not afraid of you!" you growl, looking up at her with fury replacing fear. "We can just utilize the Elements of Harmony, just like everypony has done before!"_

 _Reptantis merely glances at you, uninterested. "Oh, look. Somepony found their voice. And...actually..." She puts her hoof to her chin as if deep in thought. "You seem to be missing your Element of Laughter. I thought it looked a little gloomy. Also, where are your Elements anyway? I haven't seen any Golden Crowns around here in ages..." She slams her hoof down, alarming everypony. "Now, where are the Elements and the Crown?"_

 _"We don't know, you sort of wrecked Ponyville!" you snap._

 _"Oh, so they are in Ponyville?" Reptantis smiles, satisfied._

 _You furrow your brow defiantly, though not sure what to say back. Oops. Ugh, stupid, stupid, stupid! How the hay did she trick me? If we want to win, we'll need to out-trick the trickster... You calm down and clear your mind, careful to keep your wits about you._

 _"Ruffian! You can't do this!" Rarity huffs furiously._

 _"Yes, she can," you reply coolly. "It's obvious that we've been beaten, so things will be much easier if we just give her what she wants." For a moment, the room goes silent, and you can practically feel the shocked eyes of your friends boring into your head._

 _Reptantis laughs evilly. "See? Even your precious Princess can see that you've all been defeated. You know what? If you hand over the Elements of Harmony and the Golden Crown, I won't kill you girls or those other two." Her ear twitches slightly as she finishes the end of her sentence. She's lying._

 _"[Y/N], what are you doing?" Twilight gasps._

 _You dismiss your sister. "I'm sorry, but I've made my choice and you can't change my mind." You merely close your eyes and lift your snout slightly, showing that you're done talking about the subject._

 _"You can't be serious!" Rainbow Dash shouts._

 _"Good girl," Reptantis purrs. "When you help me, only good things will come." She lowers her head swiftly and aims her horn at you and your friends. You flinch, sure that she will vaporize you. Instead, as red fog seeps out of her horn and begins to surround you, your back pain melts away, along with any other scratches and bruises that you had acquired in the explosion. The ropes fall off of your body and you stand up, completely healed. The smoke begins to fade and you see your friends healed, but still tied. Reptantis walks up to Twilight, feigning kindness and sincerity. "Twilight, you realize that this is only the tip of the iceberg. I can do far more. I could even teach you and [Y/N] some of my tricks. All you have to do is show me where the Elements are. Think about it. All of you could be princesses in my kingdom."_

 _"We don't care! We'll never help you!" Twilight persists. She then turns to you, her eyes tearing up. "Please, sister. Don't do this."_

 _You look at her expressionlessly. "I told you, my choice is made. You can all join me and everything will be ok."You look at your sister with a meaningful face that only she can decipher. Suddenly, it's as if a switch in Twilight's mind flips and a lock clicks._

 _"You know what? [Y/N] is right." As Twilight says this, the ropes fall off of her and she walks over to stand next to you._

 _"But, Twilight-" Fluttershy protests._

 _"No, Fluttershy." Twilight lifts her snout up. "Girls, we have to join together if we want to get out of this, and this is the only way." She looks down at all of your friends the same way that you had looked at her. After a moment, they realize that it's an act and join in._

 _"Well, Twilight and [Y/N] are our Princesses..." Applejack pretends to ponder._

 _"We need to be loyal to the Princesses, don't we?" Rainbow Dash points out_

 _Rarity tilts her head as if thoroughly contemplating the idea. "I suppose that we do."_

 _"Ok, we'll join you," Fluttershy announces._

 _"Excellent!" Reptantis smiles as the ropes release all of your friends. You and your friends all exchange a similar evil smile, but for different reasons than the red reptilian pony. She turns to you, confident that she has won. "Now, show me where the Elements are."_

 _"Right this way," you smile, leading everypony out of the dark room and into a hallway with a door leading outside at the end of the hall. You step out of the doors and into the storm. Griffons, still guarding Ponyville from their clouds, watch your every move with hawk-like sight. As you look around the remains of your town, you see that everypony has hidden themselves away inside their houses. As you make your way to Twilight's tree, you don't even notice that your smile had faded into an anxious frown, your ears flat against your head as you look at the griffons' razor sharp beaks._

 _"The tree?" Reptantis questions you warily._

 _You gulp, praying that nothing goes wrong. "Yeah, you know, so that we could watch them closely, heh, you know?"_

 _For a moment, the alicorn's slits bore into your eyes, but they quickly break contact as she looks up to the clouds. "I need two of you, front and center!" she yells commandingly. Two large griffons quickly drop down in front of her, a male and female. Reptantis smiles slightly, satisfied with them. "You two will do. Just make sure that these girls don't try anything that they might regret. Oh, and you have my permission to use deadly force."_

 _"Yes, my Queen," they say simultaneously, doing a swift bow._

 _You exchange glances with all the girls. The plan (which was hardly even a plan as much as a hope before) was now completely unraveled. Everypony knew not to cross griffons, especially not griffons as strong and devoted as the two in front of you. Pushing by you, Reptantis walks in the tree, the griffons following._

 _"New plan," you whisper, barely audible. "Grab your Element as quick as you can and put it on."_

 _"Mortals! Come in, now." Reptantis' scratchy voice makes you jump, but you quickly make your way inside, your friends following you. As you look up, your breath catches in your throat. The dark red alicorn stands over the glass case that houses the Elements of Harmony as well as your Golden Crown. She licks her lips confidently, as if she were ready to devour the artifacts that could easily stop her in her tracks._

 _"You should probably let us handle the Elements," you insist, stepping in front of her protectively. "You wouldn't want to be burned by them or anything." You plaster on a forced smile with a squee._

 _"Shut up, I don't need your concern. I only need your Crown..." She swats you aside as if you were a filly, sending you tumbling head over heels. Sitting up swiftly, you grit your teeth at the mare in frustration, humiliation, and apprehension. You lose your breath as Reptantis slowly removes the glass protection over the Elements, an evil smile plastered on her face. If she gets her hooves on those, Equestria is doomed. No, no, no!Pushing all elaborate planning and common sense aside, you dodge in between the two griffons._

 _"[Y/N], wait!" You ignore Twilight's warning. Instead, you leap at Reptantis' turned back. As soon as you're close enough to reach out and grab her if you wanted to, the dark red alicorn turns around, her yellow slits now a burning red. The air is knocked out of you as she grabs you by the throat with her magic. Your heartbeat increasing, you writhe around in midair, flapping your wings frantically in an attempt to loosen her grip on your windpipe._

 _"Bad decision," the reptilian creature snarls, tightening her choking hold on your throat. In the distance you can hear your friends yelling as they try to push past the griffons. All you can see, however, is Reptantis' smug face as she proceeds to squeeze the life out of you. Suddenly, a high-pitched voice rings through your ears._

 _"Hey, you big meanie! Put my friend down!" Before you can react, Reptantis' hold on you disappears completely and you drop to the floor in a colorful heap, gasping for air. You raise your [E/C] eyes to see Pinkie Pie and Spike standing behind you and in front of the griffons. While the griffons are distracted, your other five friends hit the griffons on the back of the head with heavy information books, causing them to fall to the floor, unconscious. Pinkie smiles confidently. "I used my Pinkie Sense to avoid the explosion and save these two," she announces._

 _"What?" Reptantis looks around the room as you suddenly gain the upper hand. She quickly turns around towards the case and reaches for the Elements, only to see that Discord is holding them and your Golden Crown is sitting lopsided on his head._

 _"Too late," he remarks. He then looks at you, grabs the Crown off his head, and tosses it on your head. As soon as the Golden Crown is safely resting on your head, you turn to Reptantis, power coursing through your veins. Discord swiftly tosses the Elements of Harmony to all of your friends who put their Elements on without hesitation._

 _"Stay back!" Reptantis growls, stepping back fearfully. Her slits dart back and forth as she tries to formulate a plan._

 _"Give it up." You lead all of your friends in approaching her, Spike and Discord standing off to the side but ready to help. Reptantis' eyes eventually come to rest on Spike and she quickly leaps forward and grabs by the scales._

 _"Don't come any closer! I'm not afraid to hurt him!" she barks menacingly._

 _"Spikey-wikey!" Rarity cries. You halt, frozen in your steps. The red alicorn smiles, comfortable now that she has the advantage._

 _Reptantis turns to glare at you, Spike still tightly in her grasp. "Now to deal with you!" You yell out in fear as the too-familiar red fog begins to surround you. Suddenly, your vision goes black._

 _You open your eyes to see a small, one-window room. You gasp and look around the apartment, your breathing beginning to speed up. You look down and can't believe your eyes. You have your hands back, as well as your human body._

 _"Twilight?!" you scream frantically. "Spike?! Fluttershy! Where is everypony?"_

 _"What the-" You whip your head around to see your human mother standing in the doorway. "[Y/N]! Oh my God, I can't believe it!" She runs over and wraps you in a large hug, tears streaming down her face. "W-we thought that you had been kidnapped, or-or killed, but you're safe!"_

 _You jerk out of the hug, shaking your head in confusion. "Where is everypony? Where's my sister?"_

 _Your mother looks at you confusedly. "What? Ponies? Your sister? [Y/N], what are you talking about? You don't have a sister, sweetie."_

 _You continue to shake your head, everything beginning to overwhelm you. "No, this isn't happening! This can't be happening..." Clutching your head madly, you run out of your room, down the apartment stairs, and out of the building, ignoring any traffic as you cross the street and sprint towards the statue in front of Equestria High School. After what seems like forever, you slam into the statue and fall down on the ground. You quickly recover and begin insanely banging on the section of the statue where the portal would be, only to hit hard concrete. However, whenever you inflict a blow on the statue, you see a slight red shimmer glass over the surface of the portal. Your fists bleeding and tears streaming down your face, you slump down in a pitiful pile._

 _"[Y/N] are you insane?" Your mother's angry voice rings in your human ears, but you can't even lift your eyes to look at her. "You can't just run outside and into traffic! You never...even..." Her voice trails off as she sees your distress._

 _"It's gone," you say, your voice cracking. "Everypony is gone." Suddenly, something clangs onto the ground in front of your lowered head. You look up in shock to see your Golden Crown sitting in front of you. Slowly, you reach to pick it up, fearful that the Crown is merely a cruel mirage. You give a small gasp as your fingers grip the cool gold plating. "It can't be..." Turning the artifact over and around in your hands, you feel every familiar swirl, every gem-encrusted tip and lining._

 _"What is..." your human mother steps forward to gaze at the mesmerizing magical Crown._

 _"My Crown," you murmur, your spirits rising. "My Golden Crown!" Smiling, you place it on your head and imagine Equestria and your friends. You remember all of the lessons that you learned, the adventures you had, you ponies you met. "And...my friends." You feel the spark of the Elements ignite inside if you, a spark that causes your ears to ring and your heart to stop. You close your eyes, and when you open them, your cutie mark reflects in your eyes and a white flash zaps across your vision._

 _You open your [E/C] eyes, your regular feelings restored. As soon as your blurred vision clears, you look down to see that you're back in pony form. You open your wings ecstatically, bending and twirling around in pure happiness. You don't even notice your mother standing next to you._

 _"What's going on?!" Her shocked voice makes you jump. You look over at her to see a pastel red unicorn with dark brown hair and large red-brown eyes staring back at you._

 _"Mom?" you choke out in surprise._

 _She looks behind you fearfully and pushes you down with her. "Look out!" You stumble to the ground as a griffon jumps over your head, shrieking. Your Crown falls to the ground and you quickly scramble towards it, reaching out to grab its glimmering gold surface._

 _"What is it? What have you found?" As the voice sounds, you quickly snatch up your Golden Crown and sit up to come face to face with Reptantis. Her yellow slits flicker in shock, but she then replaces it with fury. "What? How the hay did you get back?" The alicorn shakes her dark red head. "It doesn't matter. I can just kill you now." She points her horn at you and the red fog begins to leak out. You place your Crown on your head, but for once, you are lost. Oh, where is everypony? I need them...wait. My friends! You step back defensively, close your eyes, and concentrate, feeling magic emanating from your horn. When you open your eyes, all eight of your friends are sitting in a surprised pile in front of you._

 _"No time for any questions!" you order as the mist moves menacingly closer to you. "Get your Elements ready, girls!" The six ponies, all wearing their Elements, jump onto their hooves and stand by your side. Discord and Spike step back next to your mother, ready to assist if need be._

 _Reptantis grips her teeth and steps up right in front of your face. "Listen, I've had just about enough of you. You've degraded everything that I stand for, but what do you even stand for? Harmony? Harmony is for the weak." Her fog quickly rushes forward, pushing the other six girls away and sending them stumbling in the dirt. A red magical force field appears above you, cutting your friends off from fog wraps around your midsection and throat, lifting you up to stare nose-to-nose with Reptantis. "I am not an insect. You are the bug that needs to be..." The fog squeezes the air out of you. "...squashed. Now I can finally do what I should done many years ago!" As the fog continues to suffocate you, you find yourself looking downing at the ground in defeat. It's over. My friends are helpless now, just like me. I'll have to die slowly in front of my mother and friends. One last small tear escapes your eyes. As it contacts the ground, a lightbulb snaps inside of you and you begin to recall the many other times that your friends have been there for you and helped you. They've never let me down...and I can never lose faith that they will be there for me._

 _You raise your eyes to meet Reptantis' slits. "No," you croak exhaustedly. Suddenly, the surroundings around you begin to shatter like broken glass. You drop, the force field breaks into a million tiny pieces, and Reptantis is blasted away, screaming hysterically. Your ignore the pain in your muscles and stand up, disheveled. You begin to stagger and lean to the side, but you suddenly are steadied by Twilight. She smiles at you lovingly and pridefully, giving you a small nuzzle._

 _"You did it," she whispers._

 _"Wait." You move off of your sister's shoulder and run off in the direction that Reptantis was blasted, not stopping to answer everypony's shouts. You hear them follow you, but don't turn around. A gorge suddenly appears in front of you and you rapidly skid to a stop. Your ears perk as you hear grunting from the cliffside. You peek your head down to see the red reptilian pony struggling to hold onto a ledge. Her right wing dangles limply, obviously broken. As you look at the river running through the gorge, that same dizzy feeling overcomes you again._

 _"It's too high," Twilight says, now beside you. "Leave her." You look at your sister defiantly, open your wings, and jump off of the ledge, causing everypony to scream. You reach out and grab the side of the cliff, flapping your wings to balance yourself. You begin climbing down face-first, your hooves gripping the slanted ledges. As soon as you're close enough to reach the dangling alicorn, you reach your hoof out earnestly._

 _"Grab my hoof!" you yell over the roar of the rushing river far below._

 _Reptantis gives you a look of pure and utter hatred. "Never. I'll never get help from the likes of you!" Your [E/C] eyes widen as Reptantis pulls her hoof back and begins to fall to the river below._

 _"No!" you gasp, reaching out farther as if you could just snatch her out of the air. But by then, it's too late. You look away as she hits the water hard. Your heart pounding, you fly up to your friends who were watching you on top of the cliff. You look at the ground sadly. "I tried."_

 _Discord sighs sadly. "Oh, Repta. You brought this on yourself."_

 _Twilight smiles and wraps you in a large, comforting hug. "I love you, sis." You smile back, your eyes tearing up. The other girls join in on the hug, eventually followed by Discord and Spike. After a few moments, everypony steps back and your mom steps in front of you._

 _She smiles proudly and puts a tender hoof on your shoulder. "You belong here."_

 _"You could too," you offer._

 _Your mother shakes her head. "No, I belong in the real world. But I can be happy now that I know that you're safe and happy here."_

 _You smile. "Did I mention that I'm a princess?" She laughs and hugs you. You move over to stand by Twilight. "This is my sister."_

 _Twilight shakes your mother's hoof. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. It's great to finally meet you."_

 _You point at everypony else. "These are all of my other friends: Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Spike, and Discord."_

 _"It's great to meet all of you," your mom says._

 _"Congratulations, my little ponies." You look up to see Princess Celestia flying above you. She lands softly on the ground, Princess Luna at her side. "You've fulfilled your destiny and saved Equestria." She turns her head to look at you. "Faith is a magic within itself. As long as you never lose faith in your friends, you can defeat any obstacles in your way." She turns to your mother. "As for you, we can send you back to the human world tonight."_

 _Your mother looks up at Celestia uncertainly "I'm sorry, but who are you?"_

 _Celestia laughs. "Forgive me. My name is Princess Celestia, and this is my sister Princess Luna. We are the main rulers of Equestria. We have a mirror that can transport you back to where you came from."_

 _She nods solemnly. "Oh, yes. I'll come with you." Your mom turns to you, tears in her eyes. "I'm going to miss you so much, and I just want you to know that I'll always love you." She embraces you tightly._

 _You hug her back, your eyes watering. "I love you too." After too short of a time, you pull away and your mother climbs into the Princesses' chariot. The guards begins to run and pull her away and you wave until her unicorn figure is gone._

 _"What now?" Pinkie Pie speaks up first._

 _"Well..." You look up to the sky as the screeching of griffons fill the air as the Red Hornets take to flight. "Now that the griffons are gone, I'd say that cleaning up Ponyville might be a good idea." You look over to the broken town as the first ray of sunlight returns from behind the now-fading clouds._

 _"I'm up for a challenge," Rainbow Dash agrees, a smile fluttering back to her face._

 _"Me too," Twilight agrees._

 _A daring smile works its way onto your face. "Then what are we waiting for?" You walk off towards Ponyville, your home. Your friends all follow you, backing you up on each of your sides. My friends. My home. My life. It all makes sense now. Now I can finally be somewhere that I really belong. This is my destiny. And I'm not going to miss a second of it. Still grinning, you begin to run, the wind blowing through your [H/C] mane. You hear the hoofbeats of the other six girls, as well as Discord and Spike. You stop on the top of a small hill overlooking Ponyville and turn around to look at everypony. "Hey, did you know you're all my very best friends?"_

 _Twilight smiles. "And you're our best friend too."_

 _Aw, so many feels! I'm so happy about my first Fanfiction. This really has turned out so much better than I ever could've imagined. This story has grown so much over the chapters, as have I. I would like to thank all of my readers for bearing with me for thirteen chapters and I hope that your story can continue. Well, this is Bronygirl6729 signing off of Crossing Worlds for now. Have even more amazing adventures in Equestria!_


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